The winter market for fresh fruits and vegetables in Georgia is heavily dependent on imports from Turkey. Last week, the EastFruit wholesale price monitoring results showed an increase in prices for almost all imported vegetables. According to importers and wholesalers, the increase is associated with the consequences of the devastating earthquake on the Turkish Syrian border on February 6.
Source: EastFruit
Prices for imported tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers rose. The EastFruit monitoring on February 10 show a 20-30% increase in prices for them compared to the previous week.
Read also: International logistics: Turkish port “Iskenderun” severely damaged due to the earthquake
Although Turkey’s earthquake-ravaged southern provinces are not leaders in winter vegetable production, current events in the country have directly or indirectly affected the prices of fresh produce. According to local importers, the rise in prices is due to negative market expectations and labor shortages. They say that due to the mobilization of volunteers in the disaster area, there is not enough labor in other regions, so Turkish suppliers of fresh fruits and vegetables have raised prices for export products. On the other hand, Georgian importers took into account that the next batch of imports cost them more than those they imported before the disaster, raising prices on the market.
Local players in the Georgian market hope that the market will stabilize over the next week, but do not know yet what prices to expect.
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