Peppers - prices under pressure

The supply of Polish peppers is decreasing as the trading season in this segment is coming to an end. The shrinking current supply of domestic peppers was especially noticeable in September and the first half of October. During that time, their prices were rising quite dynamically. However, this upward trend has recently been broken. What was the reason for this? Primarily, it is due to the increase in availability of imported peppers. This is a typically seasonal phenomenon. The supply of imported peppers will now increase, and soon imports will completely dominate the market. However, we are still at a relatively early stage of this process. Although the increase in October can be significant - last year, the import volume was just under 600 tons in September and nearly 3,400 tons in October. However, the peak season is from December to March. In the previous campaign, monthly volumes during this period ranged from 8,800 to 9,800 tons (data according to GUS). Interestingly, in Spain, this seasonal supply trend has recently experienced some disruptions, at least regarding red peppers, which between the 36th and 42nd weeks of this year increased in price from 0.64 euros/kg to 1.23 euros/kg. Green peppers decreased from 0.93 euros/kg to 0.60 euros/kg, and yellow peppers increased from 1.08 euros/kg to 1.27 euros/kg (data from http://www.juntadeandalucia.es). In the Polish wholesale market, imported peppers from Spain have maintained a relatively stable price level. Currently, it is most often 8.00-10.00 PLN/kg for red peppers. This is about 9 percent more expensive than at the beginning of the last import season. However, the start of this year's import has broken the upward trend in prices of domestic peppers. Currently, prices for red peppers from Polish greenhouses are most often 6.00-7.00 PLN/kg, 13 percent less than last week but 8 percent more than a year ago (incidentally, we also had a similar halt in the price increase then). Green peppers now have prices in the range of 4.00-5.00 PLN/kg, 10 percent lower than the level of the previous week but 10 percent higher than the level from a year ago.