According to EastFruit, most Ukrainian farmers can expect to receive very good prices for their apples in the current season. The reason is not only the favorable situation on the European market, which we wrote about in detail in this analytical article. One of the main hopes is associated with high quality, or more precisely with one of the most important quality parameters of red apple varieties – the level of coloring.
“We receive many confirmations from apples growers from different regions of Ukraine that they have received an unprecedentedly high level of color in red apple varieties in 2023. This is due to the specific climatic conditions of the growing season and the abnormally warm and very sunny September of this year. According to official data, September 2023 turned out to be the warmest in the history of meteorological observations, which had a positive impact on the quality of fresh apples. Since from the second half of August the nights in Ukraine become quite cool, not to mention September, and the days continued to be hot and sunny, the apples, thanks to these variations, were colored perfectly,” explains Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization UN (FAO).
Below are photographs kindly provided by the “Sady Dnipra” company, which markets apples under the “UApple” brand. By the way, the company, even in the conditions of Russian military aggression against Ukraine, continues to expand the area of intensive apple and pear orchards.
Farmers from Ukraine also confirm such a subjective quality indicator as the high taste parameters of Ukrainian apples, which are also due to the ideal combination of soil and climate in 2023.
At the moment, harvesting of the Gala variety of apples has been completed in Ukraine. The wholesale price of Galas is now approximately 20% higher than a year earlier and, in general, the price in hryvnia is higher than ever before. In dollar terms, a higher price was recorded only in 2019.
Farmers also claim that demand for Ukrainian apples from exporters remains unusually high. The fact is that apple prices in the EU countries are higher than usual during this period of the year and market participants expect their further growth. Also, high prices for apples are observed in the countries of the Middle East, especially for premium quality apples.
Previously, Fruit-Inform analysts forecasted a decrease in apple production volumes in Ukraine in 2023. However, it is possible that this forecast will be adjusted upward. Still, even if production decreases, only a slight drop in export volumes and an increase in export revenue from apple exports cannot be ruled out.
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