Weekly summary – fresh-market.pl price analysis (17-23.08.2009)

The half of August passed and on the market of fruit one can observe very low purchase prices. On the market of fresh vegetables there is low supply of cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbage and cucumbers.

The purchase prices of industrial apples are stable at low level 0.13 – 0.15 PLN (0.03-0.036 euro)/kg and the protests of fruit farmers are more than likely. The situation of dessert apples is a little bit better. Their prices are at the level 1.00-1.20 PLN (0.24-0.29 euro)/kg for Paula Red and Delicates and 1.85 PLN (0.45 euro)/kg for Sunrise variety.

The supply of apricots is ending and as a result their prices increased to 2.00 – 3.00 PLN (0.48-0.73 euro)/kg. In south of Poland the crops of peaches are abnormal high what resulted in very low prices 0.50 – 0.60 PLN/kg. In this area also plums are very cheap, often below 1.00 PLN (0.24 euro)/kg. The average price of Lepotica plums intended for export is 1.50 PLN (0.36 euro)/kg.
The purchase of chokeberries is as equally bad as purchase of industrial apples. A lot of processing plants postponed the beginning of purchase of this fruit due to very low demand for chokeberries products. The purchase price of chokeberries is 0.30 – 0.40 PLN(0.07-0.09 euro)/kg.
The purchase prices of raspberries are also too low for fruit growers. However some processing plants pay even above 4.00 PLN (0.97 euro)/kg for fruits of the best quality but it is very difficult to meet their quality requirements. The purchase price of raspberries is usually about 3.00 PLN (0.73 euro)/kg for class I and below 2.50 PLN (0.61 euro)/kg for class II.

There is still problem with the supply of cauliflowers and broccoli. There is lack of these vegetables on the market due to adverse weather - rains and warm caused that vegetables are affected by many diseases. Prices of cauliflowers are 2.60 – 3.00 PLN (0.63-0.73 euro)/pcs. Producers predict that in half of September more cauliflowers will appear on the market, but this season the crops of cauliflowers will be lower than last years.

There is less white cabbage on the market also because of adverse weather. A lot of cabbages went rotten on fields what resulted in price increase. Last week the price of white cabbage rose to 0.35 – 0.45 PLN (0.08-0.11 euro)/kg. Prices of Chinese cabbage also slightly increased. Quality of Chinese cabbage is also not good. Last week the average price of this vegetable was 1.45 PLN (0.35 euro)/kg. Parsley is more expensive than last year. Its price is 3.80 – 5.00 PLN (0.92-1.21 euro)/kg depending on the area of Poland.

In the discussed period the prices of greenhouse cucumbers increased the most. At the moment their supply is again lower. The average price of long cucumbers increased from 1.25 PLN (0.30 euro)/kg to 1.75 PLN (0.42 euro)/kg, and the price of short ones from 1.50 PLN (0.36 euro)/kg to 2.05 PLN (0.50 euro)/kg. The supply of greenhouse tomatoes is also lower and one can expect the price increase. However the rise shouldn’t be high, because on the market there is quite high supply of field tomatoes at the moment. At the end of last week the price of tomatoes B was 1.92 PLN (0.47 euro)/kg and the price of tomatoes BB was 2.25 PLN (0.55 euro)/kg.

Source: fresh-market.pl (ms)