EastFruit analysts note a rather active start of the season for peaches and nectarines in Georgia. Local buyers try to buy from growers and collect large volumes. Many of the buyers work for Russian importers.
According to EastFruit, the demand for nectarines seems to be very high. Growers receive 2.50-3.50 GEL/kg ($0.85-1.20/kg), which is 0.20-0.50 GEL more than they received last year. This week, growers got an average of 2.00 GEL/kg ($0.68/kg), but prices fluctuate between 1.5-2.5 GEL/kg ($0.51-0.85/kg) depending on peach variety. According to EastFruit monitoring data, the average peach price remained the same as a year earlier. Harvesting of the main export varieties of peaches will start in a few days, farmers having positive expectations about prices during the season.
Significant concerns have arisen regarding the volume of deliveries this season. There was hail and strong winds in the key producing municipality of Gurjaani in mid-June. Due to the natural disaster in some large agricultural areas, the production of peaches and nectarines was almost halved. This could lead to lower exports and higher local prices as supplies are reduced and external demand is reported to be strong.
It is worth noting that, according to the BM.ge publication, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia expects 40 000-45 000 tonnes of peaches and nectarines (GE) this season. Given the total volume of 27 000 tonnes last seasons, this can be very optimistic, but contrary to farmers, the ministry still expects high production volumes.
In June 2021, Georgia exported 900 tonnes of peaches and 2 700 tonnes of nectarines, which was the biggest volume in June since at least 2014. The official trade data for June 2022 will be available next week and much will be cleared up.
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