Carrot prices as expected.

Looking at what is happening in the Polish vegetable market, for example in the segments of cabbage and potatoes, it was not difficult to predict the price scenario for the market of young Polish carrots. The season for this vegetable started with relatively low prices, but even so, this initial situation was much better than the current one.

Over the past few days, young Polish carrots have significantly decreased in price in the wholesale market, as can be seen on our chart. Consequently, current prices, which usually range between 1.40-2.00 PLN/kg, mainly depending on the region of the country and the quality, are the lowest in years. The current average price is only 1.70 PLN/kg. It is 38 percent lower than the average from the previous five years and almost 60 percent lower than last year's.

A year ago, the situation in the carrot market was dramatically different. There was still very little young carrots available, and despite the presence of imports, there was a significant supply gap in the domestic market. In the current season, we are experiencing a rapid increase in the current supply of early domestic carrots.

As a result, there is significant pressure for price reduction. Most likely, this pressure will continue throughout the season, keeping current prices below the levels of the previous five years. It is worth noting that the last season with even worse conditions was in 2017, with prices as low as 1.30 PLN/kg according to our editorial monitoring on fresh-market.pl (as of June 26). However, this is small consolation for the producers.

It is highly likely that we will have a season where the average price will fall below the psychological threshold of 1.50 PLN/kg. Let's hope it will not be as bad as in the 2017 or 2014 seasons, when July ended in the carrot market with prices around 0.50 PLN/kg in the wholesale market.