Eastfruit experts report the start of peak harvesting of “Idared” apples in the northern apple regions of Moldova last week. Many growers who have joined the process note the high yield and quality – fruits are large and bright in color (which is typical for many late red apples this year).
For this reason, the minimum wholesale prices for Idared in Moldova slightly increased – from 3 to 3.5 MDL/kg ($0.20/kg) this week, according to the monitoring of EastFruit. Nevertheless, taking into account inflation, the current price range for Idared is still very far from last year’s October prices on the Moldovan market – 6-7 MDL/kg ($0.35-0.41/kg). Why?
Market participants note that, due to a poor apple harvest, exporters and traders tried to fill refrigerators with literally “everything that the domestic market had to offer” last year, including “Idared” of mediocre quality bought at “speculative, exorbitant prices.” The situation in 2021 is the opposite. Many horticultural and retail executives claim that all of their refrigerators are stocked with apples of “expensive and demanded varieties”. Meanwhile, harvesting Idared apples is still far from complete. The offer is great, and buyers have a lot to choose from. As a result, the wholesale price of even high-quality apples of this variety stored for long-term grows slowly.
Some pressure on the market is also exerted by the fact that, as EastFruit reported, some industrial apple processors are trying to play on fears or desperation of farmers and buy products from them at low prices – about 0.9 MDL/kg ($0.05/kg). Representatives of enterprises producing apple concentrate are trying to smooth the situation, claiming that “apples are purchased at up to 1.4 MDL/kg ($0.08/kg) at factories”. However, this price seems low to many agricultural growers.
Large players of the fruit market believe the low demand for Idared variety in Russia to be the main reason for its low and slowly growing prices in Moldova – “this main distribution channel is still closed, as the Russian market is oversaturated with local apples”. Notably, the average wholesale price for Idared ($0.63/kg) on the Russian market is several times higher than in Moldova, according to the data by EastFruit. It is worth mentioning in this regard that, according to exporters, “active supplies of cheap Idared in Russia are also hindered by the seasonal duties.
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