To date, prices for high-quality apples in Ukraine have dropped to the lowest level over the past three years, according to analysts of the EastFruit project. At the same time, there is still no demand in this segment even after the selling prices have dropped.
So, since the end of last week, farmers have lowered the minimum price range for almost all varieties of apples to 5 UAH / kg ($ 0.19 USD/ kg), which is on average 37% cheaper than a week earlier. Today, most Ukrainian producers prefer to store winter apple varieties in anticipation of higher prices and an improvement in the market situation. But at the same time, Ukrainian growers are already asking the question “Where to sell apples at the beginning of winter?”
Retailers and wholesalers also minimized their purchases of apples from local producers, citing low retail sales of these fruits. As a result, processing can be one of the options at the moment. But there are also some nuances here. Processing companies are ready to buy apples no more than UAH 1.80-2.40 / kg ($ 0.07-0.09 USD/ kg).
“Today, processing cannot in any way help the stabilization of the apple market in Ukraine. The opinion that processing companies will absorb the surplus of apples is crashed by the declared purchase prices of the factories at 1.8-2.4 UAH / kg. Farmers say that this price level does not cover even production costs, and representatives of the factories shrug their shoulders because the situation with the demand for apple concentrate in the world is only getting more complicated every year. According to our forecasts, at least in the first half of the current season, there is simply no reason for improving the market situation in the apple segment of Ukraine, ”comments Oleksandr Khorev, head of the APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits project.
To date, selling prices for apples in Ukraine are already 35% lower on average than in the same period last year. And today this price is the lowest in the last three years. Lower prices for apples were announced in 2018 when a record harvest of these fruits was harvested in the country.
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