Prices for greenhouse vegetables are currently very high. They are at a record high for at least the last five seasons, EastFruit notes.
This was reported by Olexander Khorev, an agricultural market expert and coordinator of the EastFruit Weekly Ukraine project, in a comment to Komersant.
“Wholesale prices for cucumbers are 135-165 hryvnia per kilogram, depending on the variety, quality, and volume of the batch. As for tomatoes, they currently cost 120-140 hryvnia per kilogram. I would like to note that this is also a record high for at least the last five seasons. For comparison, the average price of tomatoes on this date last year was slightly less than 100 hryvnia. And last year, cucumbers were priced at around 110-110 hryvnia. That is, an increase of approximately 25-30% per year.”
According to Oleksandr Khorev, the reasons for the rise in vegetable prices in this case depend on the price of these products in the country of origin. Most greenhouse vegetables are produced in Turkey. It is from there that the main supplies of these products to the Ukrainian market traditionally come during the winter.
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“These are the closest and most affordable vegetables that we can import. Turkey also has seasonal fluctuations, and they are currently experiencing a decline in harvest volumes. The shipments they send not only to Ukraine but also to all European countries and other countries are now smaller, and their prices have increased.”
The expert said that demand for greenhouse vegetables remains stable throughout the winter. If our supply decreases, prices rise accordingly. According to him, the factors of hryvnia devaluation should not be ruled out. The hryvnia is cheaper today than last year, and it is gradually falling against both the dollar and the euro.
“This is also a factor in prices being higher than last season. As for keeping them at this level, we believe that this will continue in the coming weeks. We will observe, perhaps for a month, because the first greenhouse vegetables will start seasonally, probably with cucumbers, then tomatoes, and then they will be harvested more massively.”
According to Oleksandr Khorev, there are factories in Ukraine that operate on a continuous basis and have year-round production, but given the prices of energy in Ukraine, these are very expensive products, and these greenhouse factories cannot guarantee large volumes for our domestic market.
“Therefore, we are already expecting larger wholesale shipments starting in March, and in April, cucumbers and tomatoes from many plants will be entering the domestic market. This will ease the pressure on the market somewhat, and prices usually begin to fall in mid-spring,” the expert explained.
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