According to EastFruit analysts, rapid decline in raspberry purchase prices has been observed in all the main production regions of Ukraine during the current week. The price reduction is taking place against the backdrop of an increase in the supply of fall raspberry varieties, the harvest of which began much earlier than usual this year.
If a week earlier intermediaries offered 50-60 UAH per kg of raspberries for small farmers, which is equivalent to $1.2-1.5 US dollars per kg, this week the maximum price is down to 40 UAH/kg, or slightly less than 1 US dollar. Thus, in just a few days, the price of raspberries has fallen by almost a third. Moreover, the price downtrend on the market continues.
Raspberry growers are naturally unhappy with this situation. Some of them suggest boycotting intermediaries and selling raspberries directly to processors. There are also calls to block all roads to freezing plants so that resellers cannot supply raspberries, and to negotiate prices directly with freezers themselves. However, so far, the indignation has not gone beyond calls on social networks and farmers have not organized any real protests.
Some of the farmers believe that the price of 40 UAH/kg is quite good for a growers who does not use hired labor. After all, at present one has to pay on average about 20 UAH/kg (50 US cents) for raspberry harvesting, which eats up exactly half of the incomes.
Considering the situation on the European and global market for frozen raspberries, EastFruit analysts believe that procurement prices of raspberries for freezing on the domestic market of Ukraine will stabilize quite quickly, although some additional reduction is still possible.
Read also: Autumn raspberries in July: Ukraine’s unusually early harvest of everbearing berries
“Currently, freezing raspberries is a very profitable business for Ukrainian processors, since the margin, or the difference in prices between final products and raw materials, has reached an almost record high level. Considering that production volumes have increased, which means that the same profit can be made with a lower margin, processors will try to purchase maximum volumes of raspberries, contributing to price stabilization. They simply were not ready to see an increase of supplies so early. An additional factor in favor of this scenario is the stabilization of the country’s energy system in recent weeks, which allows freezing more products and reducing the risk of loss of the raspberry quality,” says Andriy Yarmak, an economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
At the same time, he is not sure that raspberry prices will continue climbing up next season. “Most of the food industry companies will decide on their raw material purchase strategies for 2025 at the end of the calendar year. Raspberries have not yet reached the record levels of 2021, but they have already overtaken other alternative frozen fruits used as raw materials for confectionery, bakery, juice and other food sectors. This means that demand for raspberries may begin to decline from January 2025 onwards. Ukrainian enterprises need to take this into account when planning their sales”, says Andriy Yarmak.
Maintain full control over fruit and vegetable prices in Turkey, Egypt, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Russia, Moldova and other markets subscribing to EastFruit Premium.
The use of the site materials is free if there is a direct and open for search engines hyperlink to a specific publication of the East-Fruit.com website.
