February 20 2015, 11:19 Fito-Mag

Saint Petersburg, Russia: prices of Serbian pears sharply up year-on-year

For the present, prices of Serbian pears vary between RUB 100-110/kg (USD 1.59-1.75/kg) in Saint Petersburg, Russian, two and a half times as high as registered in the same period of the previous season. We would remind you that those pears were offered at RUB 40-45/kg (USD 0.66-0.72/kg) in the mid-February 2014.

The market participants connect such a sharp year-on-year increase in prices with several factors. Firstly, the supply of imported pears does not cover full market demand in Russia due to the ban on imports from the EU, which enables Serbian growers to raise prices. Secondly, prices have significantly gone up due to the devaluation of the Russian ruble.

We would remind you that the EU countries accounted for up to 65% of Russia's total annual imports of pears in the previous seasons. However, after introduction of the ban on imports, Russian importers had to find new suppliers, and Serbia became one of the leaders in pear exports to Russia in this season.