Floods in the central regions of Serbia led to huge losses for farmers growing vegetables, fruits and berries. Due to bad weather, the supply of products has drastically reduced, and statements about the risk of losing 80% of the raspberry harvest, which initially was considered overstated, no longer seem too unrealistic.
As a result, the supply of strawberries and sweet cherries from Serbia declined sharply. At the same time, the demand for these fruits continued to grow in the Russian market, which led to some price stabilization, despite the entry of locally produced wild cherries and strawberries. The growth of prices for cherries was also supported by the completion of the season for the sale of these fruits in Uzbekistan and the rise in prices for them.
In Ukraine, the southern regions of the country also suffered from heavy wind, heavy rain and hail. The streets of Kherson as a result of bad weather turned into rivers, and farmers had no opportunity to clean the berry for several days. Even now, despite the improvement in weather conditions, the quality of the berries leaves much to be desired due to excessive humidity. Therefore, it is possible that some manufacturers will finish harvesting berries in the southern regions earlier than planned.
Against the background of a decrease in the supply of products on the market, farmers managed to slightly increase selling prices, especially when selling garden strawberries for processing. On average, farmers growing berries, were able to get 2-3 UAH per kg more than a week earlier.
However, according to east-fruit.com, products from the northern regions of Ukraine are already beginning to enter the market, where a very good harvest of garden strawberries is expected. According to our estimates, the areas of strawberries in the northern regions of the country have expanded no less significantly than in the southern ones; therefore, a new round of price cuts, if there are no weather anomalies, will most likely not be avoided.
Currently, Ukrainian garden strawberries, despite the strengthening of prices, cost on average one-third cheaper than the same berry on the Polish market.
At the same time, Ukrainian strawberries still cost less than $ 1 per kg when sold wholesale from the field, and processors are confident that prices will fall further, and farmers do not particularly hope for their growth, given the start of the strawberry harvest in the Zhytomyr region.