The season of strawberries is entering an active phase in Eastern Europe after a late start due to bad spring weather. Both in Poland and in Ukraine, the current season of local berries has shifted by two to three weeks compared to 2020. Russian producers, in turn, also report a late start of strawberries harvesting. Meanwhile, in Central Asia, the current season of strawberries is not only in full swing, but even ended in some of the southernmost regions of this region, and in Georgia, producers have already started harvesting berries from open ground.
Since the end of April, prices for strawberries have most of all dropped in Ukraine. Both local and imported berries fell in price here, and Ukrainian strawberries became even cheaper than imported ones. Just a few weeks ago, the first batches of local berries in Ukraine costed $ 7.90/kg, but by the end of this week prices fell to $ 4.30-4.70/kg.
Prices in Moldova decreased less actively than in Ukraine over the past week, since the season started there a little later than in Ukraine. By the end of the first week of May, small lots of local strawberries on the Moldovan market dropped to $ 4.50-6.75/kg. Imported products still dominate the market, and they are two times cheaper than the first Moldovan strawberries.
Imports are still significant in countries where strawberries are the most expensive, as of the end of this week: in Poland and Russia. In Poland local berries are supplied only by large greenhouse complexes, while prices are still relatively stable from the very beginning of the greenhouse strawberries season and so far, vary within the range of $ 5.80-7.90/kg. The main share on the Polish market is still taken by imported berries (mainly from Spain), the prices for which are also stable and half as much as for the local ones: about $ 3.15/kg average.