Shipments of the first batches of plums of the new crop from Uzbekistan this season started on the 10th of May, and the country has exported a record volume of plums over the past 3 months compared to the same period in 2017-2021, EastFruit analysts say.
According to preliminary data by the Customs Committee of the Republic, Uzbekistan exported 44 000 tonnes of fresh plums from May 11 to August 10, 2022, which is 2.6 times more than in the same period last year and almost 30% higher than the previous record volume in 2019.
In 2017-2021, the export volume of fresh plums in 2021 was the lowest in 5 years, due to a low harvest and high prices after two waves of frosts in Uzbekistan in late February and mid-March 2021. However, this was not the only reason for the decline in exports. If we look at the dynamics of export volumes, there was a steady downward trend in 2017-2021, with the exception of 2019, which EastFruit experts drew attention to in the articled “Uzbekistan 2021: fruits, nuts, grapes – the analysis of prices, production and exports”.
However, Uzbek plum export volumes this season show that the downward trend of 2017-2021 will be broken. The volume of plum exports in the first 3 months from the beginning of the 2022 season (from May 11 to August 10) exceeded the annual exports of 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 by at least 44% and almost equals the total export volume of 2019 – the previous record!
A sharp increase in plum exports of the 2022 crop is facilitated by a good harvest and, as a result, low prices for plums in Uzbekistan this year. According to EastFruit price monitoring, wholesale prices for fresh plums in June-July 2022 were on average 2 times lower than last year’s levels. As of August 5, 2022, the average wholesale prices for plums were 4 times lower than on the same date in 2021 and 2.5 times lower than on the same date in 2019.
Moreover, as of August 5, 2022, wholesale prices for plums in Uzbekistan are the lowest among countries where EastFruit monitors wholesale prices for fruits and vegetables weekly. For example, if the average wholesale price in Uzbekistan was $0.18/kg, then prices in other countries of the region were as follows: Tajikistan – $0.29/kg; Moldova – $0.31/kg; Ukraine – $0.33/kg; Poland – $0.43/kg; Russia – $0.57/kg; Georgia – $0.73/kg; Belarus – $1.46/kg.
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