The prices of dessert strawberries are still a hot topic.

The season of Polish strawberries is coming to an end. However, it is still ongoing, and strawberries, or more specifically their prices, are still causing strong emotions among participants in the strawberry market. It is hard not to notice that these emotions are often pathological, and certainly not healthy for those who are affected by them.

Since the end of the first week of the current month, wholesale prices of these fruits can be described as high, and even extremely high, which has led to a lot of negative emotions on the demand side of the market. The comments made by many buyers on internet forums are downright embarrassing.

When strawberries reached unbelievably high prices (between June 11 and 17), there was a wave of ugly posts attacking the producers. Then, as strawberries started to become cheaper (which was easy to predict, as how many consumers would pay over 25 PLN per kilogram of these fruits - wholesale prices had reached 20.00 PLN/kg), a tone of mockery and schadenfreude appeared, suggesting that producers would be left with expensive strawberries. There were even calls to stop buying such expensive fruits.

As seen in our chart, wholesale prices of dessert strawberries have indeed dropped, but the joy over the price drop among many wholesale buyers might be a bit exaggerated. Although lower, the prices still remain record high for this phase of the season, and they are likely to stay that way.

Currently, in large wholesale, prices typically range from 10.00 to 16.00 PLN/kg. Lower prices do occur, but they are for lower quality products, which are abundant due to the current weather conditions. These lower quality fruits do not go for processing, so they are being pushed into the fresh market. However, good quality fruits still have high prices, and that is not going to change.

It is known that trading in expensive strawberries is difficult because they are perishable fruits, and the risk of intermediaries not making a profit at high purchase prices is high. However, overly emotional reactions and getting upset about the reality of low supply and the fact that we have a producer's market is not the right approach. On the other hand, many statements from the supply side of the market are also highly negative towards buyers. This is not the right path either. Pointing fingers at who has higher costs and takes on more risk is a bad idea and will not lead to anything constructive. Cooperation, not conflict, will bring more benefits to both sides.