October 15 2008, 12:09

Ukraine: prices for tomatoes increase due to imports reduction

Several days ago, market participants observed sharp decrease of prices on the tomato market, but since the beginning of this week, the situation has began to change. According to the information provided by the specialists of Fruit-Inform project, general supply of tomatoes on the domestic market is sharply decreasing, and one of the main reasons is imports reducing. Importers do not prefer to supply produce to Ukraine due to fluctuation of dollar course. Most Turkish companies prefer to postpone the sales till regulation of the situation on Ukrainian currency market.

Seasonable reduction of supplies from domestic producers also has substantial impact on price forming for tomatoes in Ukraine. Sellers of open-soil tomatoes practically finished the sales, due to stable demand the prices for tomatoes are declared within a range of 0.36- 0.44 euro/kg. The purchase activeness is high despite low quality of produce.

Supply from hothouse industrial complexes has reduced. Most farms export main volumes of tomatoes to Russia, where prices have started to increase. At the moment, exporters agree to purchase Ukrainian tomatoes within a price range of 1.02-1.16 euro/kg. On the Russian domestic market, the wholesale prices for tomatoes are declared within a range of 1.75-1.89 euro/kg.