Green beans - an important change in the fresh market situation.
There has been a significant change in the pricing situation in the wholesale trade segment of green beans in the Polish market. How does this situation look? It is necessary to start with the stabilization of green bean prices in large wholesale from the beginning of the second week of July. This stabilization was caused by difficult weather conditions. Halting the price decline at this stage of the season is not a very rare phenomenon. In July, we often have heatwaves and droughts, which negatively affect delicate vegetables.
It is important at what price level this stabilization occurs. In the current season, it was 7.00 PLN/kg (1.63 EUR/kg), a level comparable to the average of the previous five years. However, last week, green bean prices in large wholesale fell again. By 14 percent, which was enough to bring the current average well below that of the past five seasons. This can be seen in the chart below.
But we also see that this unfavorable change was short-lived. In less than a week, prices strengthened again. Currently, selling prices in large wholesale are in the range of 5.00-8.00 PLN/kg (1.17-1.87 EUR/kg), indicating an improvement of 13 percent. Prices are once again higher than the average price from previous seasons. This is an important change in the situation during a critical period of the campaign.
Analyzing this change, we see that the upper limit of the range has increased. This most likely indicates a lower supply of high-quality green beans from greenhouse cultivation. However, the supply of field-grown green beans on the market has not decreased and is always offered at a lower price.
Bean purchase prices for the industry are significantly lower than the lower limit of the range on the fresh market. The Loco ramp price is 1.00 PLN/kg (0.23 EUR/kg). But the bean purchase campaign is just beginning, and demand for beans in the processing sector should increase, which will attract lower-quality goods from the fresh market. If the weather remains unfavorable, the average price on the fresh market could stay above 5.00 PLN/kg (1.17 EUR/kg), as in the 2022 season.