Ukrainian farmers have sharply increased prices of high-quality apples in the currently week, EastFruit project analysts report. The range of wholesale prices for such apples went up to 14-22 UAH/kg (US $0.37-0.58/kg), depending on the quality, variety and batch size offered. Consequently, fresh apple prices in Ukraine today are, on average, 30% higher than at the same time of the previous week, which is the sharped increase in the current season.
The recent surge in prices for fruit No. 1 is explained by a noticeable increase in demand. According to the growers, if a week earlier the demand for local apples was relatively low, this week both: wholesalers and retailers are showing an increased interest in purchasing fresh apples in rather large volumes.
Although fresh apple prices in Ukraine are constantly increasing, today they are almost the lowest among all the analyzed countries in the EastFruit region, which includes Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus. Thus, a further increase in apple prices on the Ukrainian market is possible since one should not expect more affordable imports from its closest neighbors.
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It is also worth noting that today apples in Ukraine sell at 50% higher price than in the same period of 2023. Moreover, prices for apples in the current season continue to set new records compared to the past five seasons.
It should be noted that the supply of high-quality apples on the Ukrainian market is quite limited, which also contributes to rising prices for these fruits. Many growers try to sell mostly inferior quality apples holding the best quality for later to maximize the revenues. Beginning of March is the earliest time they are considering opening up cold storage chambers with high quality apples.
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