EastFruit experts note the increased exports of peaches/nectarines from over the past week, mainly to Russia. According to market players, several factors contribute to the growth in export volumes, including an increase in the supply of high quality peaches available for exports, a decrease in wholesale prices and in supply on the Russian market from Turkey, the leader in peach exports to Russia.
Peaches are an important source of Uzbekistan’s export earnings in the fruit segment; in terms of importance, they are comparable to cherries. Both positions are second only to fresh table grapes. In 2020, Uzbekistan exported 85.8 thousand tons of peaches, including nectarines, worth $ 64.9 million. However, in the 2021 season, the peach harvest in Uzbekistan was seriously affected by weather anomalies in winter and early spring. It resulted in high prices, approximately twice the last year’s levels. In mid-June, when the mass harvesting of peaches in Uzbekistan started, EastFruit wrote that “Peaches in Uzbekistan have to be much cheaper in order to compete with Turkey on the Russian market”, noting high uncompetitive prices of Uzbek peaches on their main traditional external market, Russia. As of June 17, the average wholesale price for quality peaches was 25,000 sums/kg ($ 2.4). Since then, prices have almost halved; as of July 22, 2021, the average wholesale price for peaches in the domestic market is 13,000 sums/kg ($ 1.23), but still much higher than in previous years. For instance, the average wholesale price of peaches on the same date in 2019 was 5,000 sums/kg ($ 0.58). At the same time, the average wholesale prices on the Russian market in the 2021 season are lower than in previous years.
Read also: Peach exports from Uzbekistan in 2021 are expected to be significantly lower than last year
According to participants in the logistics services market, requests for vehicles for the shipment of peaches/nectarines from Uzbekistan to Russia increased sharply in mid-July 2021, i.e. on 15-22 July. It increased several times if compared to the first half of July. What factors contribute to the growth in export shipments of peaches and their lower prices, which in turn is not a sufficient factor to increase exports?
According to Uzbek exporters, the main reason lies in weather anomalies in Europe. In an interview with EastFruit experts, the head of a large export company Musaevs Exim LLC, Nodirbek Musaev, talked about it:
“Firstly, the supply of export-quality nectarines has significantly increased in the domestic market of Uzbekistan since mid-July. 10 days ago, there were few volumes available for export. In other words, over the past week, large quantities of network-quality nectarines became available on the market.
Secondly, and most importantly, the harvest of stone fruit in Europe has suffered greatly from severe frosts, bad weather and other weather anomalies in spring and early summer this year. Therefore, the main directions of export of peaches/nectarines from Turkey this year are the EU countries, respectively, there are few offers from Turkish exporters in the Russian market. As you know, Turkey is the largest supplier of peaches/nectarines to the Russian market. This supports the prices for network quality nectarines in Russia. Now Russian retailers buy nectarines of network quality at about $ 1.60 per kg. At the largest wholesale market in Moscow, Food City, prices for nectarines of this quality fluctuate between 120-130 RUB/kg ($ 1.63-1.76).
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