Moldovan berry farmers reported in social networks and messengers at the beginning of this week that they were harvesting and delivering the last strawberries grown in greenhouses. Pre-order price for 2-3 kg is 100 MDL/kg ($5.29/kg). At the very beginning of the season, small wholesale targeted deliveries of greenhouse strawberries cost 180 MDL/kg ($9.52/kg). The price did not fall below 120 MDL/kg ($6.34/kg) during the next three weeks.
Simultaneously with the end of the greenhouse strawberry season, several farms announced the acceptance of orders for small wholesale (3 kg or more) targeted deliveries of strawberries from fields covered with agril. The starting price is 85 MDL/kg ($4.49/kg). According to specialists from the Federation of Agricultural Producers of Moldova FARM, the price of strawberries sold in the small wholesale markets of cities is about 60-65 MDL/kg ($3.17-3.43/kg).
The Association of Berry Producers “Pomușoarele Moldovei” claims that the demand for targeted delivery of local greenhouse strawberries in the spring of 2022, as well as in 2021, exceeds supply. Thanks to this, the prices for Moldovan strawberries grown in greenhouses of all types remained high: in the case of delivery to the client, they are almost twice as high. In the case of delivery to small wholesale and retail markets in the city, they are tens of percent higher than those for imported strawberries.
Nevertheless, judging by the EastFruit monitoring, the wholesale prices for strawberries in Moldova significantly decreased last week – from $2.94/kg to $2.38/kg on average (however, the price is still 15-20% higher than last year’s May level). The prices might reflect the situation in the segment of imported greenhouse berries to a greater extent. It can be assumed that the price reduction is due to information about the imminent start of the season of local field berries. By the way, the average wholesale prices for strawberries in the Moldovan and Ukrainian markets have become equal. To some extent, this is also a factor of pressure on the average level of wholesale strawberry prices in Moldova since Ukrainian strawberries can now be imported to the Moldovan market under certain conditions.
On the other hand, there is hardly any reason to expect a two-fold decrease in strawberry prices soon, in particular, the one observed in the second half of May 2019. In the last two years, wholesale prices for strawberries have been declining smoothly in May-June. In 2022, such price dynamics of the market will be facilitated by a significant reduction in open-field strawberry plantations in many berry clusters in Moldova.
However, whether Moldovan farmers can find a replacement for the Russian market in the next two to three weeks may have a big impact on the price level.
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