Chinese cabbage - prices are breaking new records.

The weather has had a strong impact on this year's crops of Chinese cabbage. The consecutive hot days, interspersed with local storms, did not contribute to either yields or the quality of the "Chinese cabbage". Currently, there is very little nice "Chinese cabbage" on the Polish market, and this is reflected in the prices.

Wholesale prices of this vegetable have been breaking records for the fourth consecutive week. As seen in our chart, compared to the previous five years, the current average price of "Chinese cabbage" is very high. It is not always so expensive even at the beginning or end of the season, let alone during the summer phase when we often experience a summer price slump.

Currently, the sale prices of Chinese cabbage, in large-scale wholesale (cabbage "ready for sale", with a carton), have reached the range of 4.50-5.50 PLN/kg (1.05-1.28 EUR/kg). This is a staggering 140 percent above the average price value from the previous five seasons. To emphasize how unusual this situation is, let's add that in the last sixteen years (as many records as we have in fresh-market.pl monitoring), prices around July 31 have not even come close to the current average level (which is 5.00 PLN/kg (1.17 EUR/kg)). The highest price was last year, but it was an average of 3.25 PLN/kg (0.76 EUR/kg).

The purchase prices of Chinese cabbage are currently most often at the level of 4.00 PLN/kg (0.93 EUR/kg), but there are still companies trying to acquire this vegetable at lower prices, around 3.60-4.00 PLN/kg (0.84-0.93 EUR/kg). It does not seem likely that the prices of "Chinese cabbage" will drastically drop to levels typical for this phase of the season in the near future. Of course, the key factor here remains the weather, but the losses in yields so far cannot be made up for overnight.