“Today, only those potato growers who do not grow other types of traditional vegetables can speak of an increase in income, provided that they received a good harvest of potatoes, of course,” says Semyon Kramarenko, a representative of the Ukrainian Fruit and Vegetable Association (UPOA).
“However, many potato growers also grow vegetables such as carrots, beets, cabbage and onions. But the prices for these commodity items have dropped dramatically compared to last year. Therefore, losses on vegetables, as a rule, exceeded additional proceeds from the sale of potatoes, ”the expert notes.
According to EastFruit analysts, wholesale selling prices for cabbage in Ukraine are now on average three times lower than at the same time a year earlier. Selling carrots is also very difficult, and prices for it have fallen on average two and a half times over the year. The situation is similar for beetroot - vegetable growers complain that the demand for it is low, and prices also fell by two to three times on average compared with the same time last year. At the same time, a certain increase in demand for these goods has now begun to be outlined.
Only slightly better situation and onions. Although the demand for this vegetable crop is better than for carrots, beets and cabbage, but prices are now much lower than a year earlier. Last year, Kherson vegetable growers were selling onions at an average of 13 UAH / kg at that time and prices were rising rapidly, and now the price is stably at about 5 UAH / kg (21 US cents). That is, revenue from the sale of onions is now on average 2,7 times lower than in 2019 at the same time. The good news is the beginning of export shipments of onions in recent days, which gives hope for an increase in onion prices in the spring.
“Onion prices in the 2018/19 season were abnormally high, this has never happened before that the crisis climatic conditions affected almost all the main countries that massively grow onions, including the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Ukraine. Accordingly, the likelihood that the same price level for onion will be reached again in the coming years remains very low. Of course, Ukrainian farmers would like the price of onion to be the same as last year, however, given how many suppliers sold onion seeds before sowing a new harvest in 2019, the current level of onion prices in Ukraine can be considered very good. ", - says the economist of the investment department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Andrey Yarmak.
But potato prices in Ukraine currently remain stable, after a significant decline in late December. As a rule, real shipments from farms are carried out at 7 UAH / kg (29 US cents), although in the southern and eastern regions the wholesale price of potatoes is 1 UAH / kg (4 US cents) higher. Thus, potato prices are currently only 15% higher than a year earlier at the same date. But in September-October 2019, it was possible to sell potatoes one and a half times more expensive than now and then the price difference compared to the previous year was 400%.
Therefore, for now, it should be agreed that vegetable growers and potato growers in Ukraine are unlikely to record this season as an asset.
Source: Eastfruit