Carrots are not getting cheaper.

Last year, carrot prices in August were falling. Although it was still a slow decrease at that time, it was already clear that the situation in the vegetable market would only worsen. And those predictions proved to be true. Nevertheless, this typical seasonal, autumnal price drop during the main harvest period did not cause a deep price cut last season.

The current year brought a completely different price scenario in August and early September, with much more stability. Carrot prices in the Polish wholesale market did not decrease during this time. As at the beginning of August, the average selling price of washed, bagged carrots offered in large quantities in wholesale remains at an average price of 1.20 PLN/kg (0.28 EUR/kg). Currently, this represents an average price range of 1.00-1.40 PLN/kg (0.23-0.33 EUR/kg).

As observed in the chart, this average price of 1.20 PLN/kg, which was among the lowest at the beginning of last month, has not increased, yet it has now become the highest price compared to the previous five years. This highlights the current supply dynamics in the carrot market, even as the harvest season is in full swing.

source: self-prepared based on GUS data

Let's remind that initial estimates by GUS experts predict the lowest carrot harvest in many years. In the comparison above, we have the last decade, and we see that there will be much fewer carrots than in the years 2016-2017 (over 30 percent decrease), but only slightly less than last year (a decrease of only about 1 percent). However, this small difference was enough for carrot prices to rise above last year's levels. And it may turn out that subsequent estimates will be worse than these initial ones, as the weather in July and August did not favor vegetable producers at all.