Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Ukraine: fresh produce price index up, consumption down
Fruit-Inform Ukrainian fresh produce price index went up by 3% in the week from January 16th to 23rd having continued the price growth since November 2014. As a result, the price index has already increased by 67.8% over two months and a half.
«An increase in prices was registered in all fresh produce segments last week: traditional vegetables and potatoes, fruits, greenhouse vegetables», says Ms. Tetiana Getman, Head of Fruit-Inform. «Fruits and greenhouse vegetables have become more expensive as they are mostly imported now, while prices of potatoes and traditional vegetables have gone up thanks to more active exports».
At the same time, an increase in fruit and vegetable prices in Ukraine has resulted in lower consumption of these products against a background of a decrease in Ukrainians' paying capacity.
It should be noted that prices of potatoes and traditional vegetables in Russia are 2-3 times as high as in Ukraine now. This factor favors active exports of Ukrainian produce to the Russian market despite the ban: products are sold through occupied Crimea.
The sharpest week-on-week increase in prices was registered in the white cabbage segment: up by a third. Onion prices also grew significantly, while prices of potatoes and table beets changed slightly.
We would remind you that more detailed information about current developments in the Russian and Ukrainian fruit and vegetable market is available for the subscribers of Fruit-Inform service packages.