The Polish apple season has been significantly affected by the political situation with Belarus. It’s more difficult to export produce to the East and the surplus of apple stocks has resulted in lower purchasing prices from retailers. Forecasts are not positive when it comes to the prices, it seems they will not increase anytime soon.
According to Jan Nowakowski, manager of Polish apple exporter Genesis Fresh, the situation in Belarus has led to retailers dropping their purchasing price as there are more apples available right now: “In general, the situation with Belarus is on a political level at this moment. It also affects the sales of apples to the East, this season. The clients are looking a way to import Polish apples, which is a bit difficult now. We’re all waiting and observing to see how the situation will develop further. The policy of local retailers lowering the purchasing price is a direct effect of the situation on the border with Belarus. They just see there are high volumes of apples available and insufficient export opportunities this season.”
Luckily for Genesis Fresh, they’re not affected by the situation with Belarus, for the most part, as Nowakowski explains. “For our company, we have stable sales this season, with good demand from our clients. We’re not really affected by the conflict on the boarder. We only see that the current price level is low, especially compared to previous years. The forecast doesn’t show much potential for price increases for the remainder of this season. However, Polish apples are well-recognized on the international markets and they will find their way to the consumers. We see solid demand from processing industry in Poland as well.”
Although prices are at a low point and costs for cultivating apples have risen significantly, Nowakowski feels this will still not be enough to lower the total apple production in Poland: “For years, there have been discussions to reduce the cultivation of apples in Poland. However, in practice this doesn’t seem to happen as there are new plantations with Gala and Golden varieties. Therefore, the acreage does not decrease in Poland in a way that will have an impact on the price level and production costs efficiencies.”
“The current stocks are higher as we’ve harvested more apples this season. It’s also due to the fact that sales are not strong enough to get rid of all the volumes. There has been good demand at the beginning of the season. Right now, we are on the typical sales level. Prices are lower this season and dramatically low compared to increased costs of productions. Small growers will struggle to survive on the market. They will need to consolidate or change the production.”
Fruit Logistica has been postponed until April, and Nowakowski can’t wait to finally meet his contacts in person again: “We will be in Berlin in April at Fruit Logistica. We miss our meeting our clients in person. I think we need the contact as the home office is not good for anyone, so it will be double the pleasure to meet up with everybody!” he concludes.
For more information:
Jan Nowakowski
Genesis Fresh
Tel: + 48 22 378 34 05
Email: [email protected]