September 10 2007, 10:56

Ukrainian borsch has never been more expensive than this season

CIS produce business periodical, "Agrooglyad: Fruits and Vegetables" weekly informs, the cost of all components of Ukrainian borsch beats all previous records this year. The journal analysts inform, the observed prices for potato, cabbage, table beet and carrot are record high for September.

At the present moment the producers offer potato for sale for $0.2-0.36/kg; potato prices exceed $0.4/kg on wholesale markets. It means that the retail price for potato is often more than $0.6-0.7/kg in large cities. The lowest potato prices are recorded in the regions of Western and Northern Ukraine; the highest prices are observed in AR Crimea, and also in Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Potato prices are traditionally record high in AR Crimea, The average wholesale price for potato reached $0.58/kg on Simferopol wholesale market past week.

Cabbage prices beat all records. Now the producers set the price $0.24-0.44/kg for the medium quality cabbage. The prices are even higher on the wholesale prices. The market situation may further aggravate after the harvesting period is finished. To the opinion of the market players, the harvest will be insufficient to fully cover the country demand in this "number one" vegetable, judging from the volumes of cabbage consumption.

Table beet and carrot are also highly valued crops this year. There are no problems to sell carrot and table beet this season; carrot prices do "go off scale". Now the farmers start harvesting late carrot varieties; the price for this vegetable fluctuates $0.3-0.76/kg. This price is several times as high than at the same period of time in 2006. The situation on table beet market is a little bit better; the prices for this crop are higher than in 2006, but they are still much lower than the prices for carrot. You may possibly buy the wholesale shipments of table beet for $0.2-0.3/kg; though the retail price often reaches $0.6/kg.

Taking into account the presently increasing prices for meat, we may flatly say that Ukrainian borsch will cost more expensive than ever for the average Ukrainian housewife. It appears that the prices for the major components of Ukrainian borsch will be much higher than now in March-April.

We'd like to remind that the detailed information about the price perspectives for vegetables and fruits in December-June will be presented during the fourth international conference "Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2007. Meeting New Leader", to be held on December 4th-6th 2007 on the territory of the National Complex "Expocenter of Ukraine" in Kyiv. The online registration form for the conference participants is available here.