Most farmers in Ukraine this week announced the end of the selling season for sweet cherries, according to EastFruit project analysts. This information is also confirmed by wholesale companies, which reported this week about the lack of supply of this berry in local farms; it was impossible to purchase the required wholesale volume of cherries even by increasing the purchase prices for these stone fruits.
To date, wholesale batches of sweet cherries from local farms go on sale at 70-120 UAH/kg ($1.91-3.28/kg), depending on the quality and variety. At the same time, Ukrainian producers increased prices for the remaining lots of cherries by an average of 30% this week.
The price of cherries in the current season often exceeded the price level of the previous year, which was due to a decrease in the production of cherries in the country due to the temporary occupation of the Kherson region and part of the Zaporizhzhia region, which traditionally were leaders in the cultivation of these stone fruits. The high cost often became the reason for the decrease in demand for this berry. Market participants explained this because end consumers were not ready to buy local berries at such a high price.
It is worth noting that last year the cherry season in Ukraine ended approximately two weeks earlier. Still, the last batches of sweet cherries were shipped by producers on average 75% cheaper than in the current season. Key market players explain such a price difference both by a decrease in the yield of sweet cherries and a sharp increase in the cost of growing this crop.
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