The cucumbers prices goes up
In the Polish fresh vegetable market, we are experiencing a significant decrease in the supply of domestic cucumbers. The decrease is so large that we can already speak of a supply crisis, affecting both greenhouse cucumbers and those grown in open fields. This is due to the hot weather with intermittent heavy rain showers. It is not favorable for cucumbers, especially those in the fields, but it also has a rebound effect on greenhouse production.
A similar cucumber supply crisis, also due to unfavorable weather conditions, occurred two years ago. However, although there was a noticeable drop in cucumber supply back then, it wasn't as severe as in recent days. This is reflected in the prices.
Greenhouse cucumbers quickly rebounded from a small price slump they experienced at the beginning of this month. Since then, prices have only been increasing, as shown in the chart above. Wholesale selling prices of greenhouse cucumbers have increased by 63 percent since then, reaching levels higher than in the past five years. Currently, their wholesale prices range from 4.60 PLN/kg (1.07 EUR/kg) to even 6.00 PLN/kg (1.40 EUR/kg). We can talk about historically high prices, as it has never been this expensive in previous seasons.
And how is the situation with field cucumbers? Here too, we see strengthening prices due to supply issues. It is important to note that changes are occurring not only on the supply side of this market but also on the demand side. The campaign to buy cucumbers for processing is gaining momentum.
In the small wholesale market, there has been a shortage of field cucumbers relative to the demand for some time, so prices were already relatively high, and in the last two weeks, they have strengthened by about 10-16 percent, depending on the region. However, the price increases for cucumbers intended for processing in July were higher, as many processing plants started buying pickling cucumbers at 1.50-1.80 PLN/kg (0.35-0.42 EUR/kg), with prices now reaching 3.00-3.20 PLN/kg (0.70-0.75 EUR/kg).