Raspberries - prices drop at the end of the season.

The situation on the dessert raspberry market in Poland at the end of the 2024 season has developed in a rather unusual way, especially in the context of the latest GUS forecasts regarding the harvest of these fruits in 2024. Experts from GUS have significantly lowered their earlier estimates and believe that 78,000 tons of these fruits were harvested in Poland in 2024. In July, the forecasts were indicating a harvest of 83,000 tons.

source: own elaboration based on GUS data

Therefore, we would have a production only slightly better than in the weak years of 2019 and 2015, and nearly 19% lower compared to 2023. Prices at purchase points, although far from satisfactory for producers, confirm these volume relationships. They are significantly higher than last year. The situation is different on the wholesale fresh market.

The upward trend was interrupted in September, and since then there has been pressure to lower prices of dessert raspberries in the Polish wholesale market, mainly due to very limited demand for fruits of often problematic quality. As a result, prices have dropped, which is a very rare phenomenon at this stage of the season. Currently, they are selling at levels of 20.00-40.00 PLN/kg, depending on quality and packaging. This level, which remains higher in today's quotation than in previous years, the average price on the same day in October 2023 was 29.00 PLN/kg. But then it increased the next day to 30.00 PLN/kg. Therefore, tomorrow raspberries are likely to no longer be more expensive than in all previous five seasons. It is a weak end of a regular campaign for these fruits, considering the low harvest mentioned above and the fact that there is still demand for industrial raspberries.