Better prices of white cabbage in Poland

The second half of this month brought an improvement in the prices of white cabbage on the Polish wholesale market. However, this was not a large improvement and the situation of Polish producers of this vegetable has improved little overall.

The main problem and challenge for farmers continues to be the lack of sufficiently strong demand for white cabbage. Lockdown and the closure of the catering channel are hitting hard. For white cabbage, this is a huge drain on current sales. Demand has been, and continues to be, mainly for retail cabbage - small heads for market outlets.

And it is such market cabbage that has increased in price in the second half of January. Its current selling prices are in the range of 0.40-0.60 zlotys per kilo. This is 11 per cent more than in the first half of the month. It is also "only" 9 per cent less than the average price in the same period last year, but it is not much consolation, because even then the situation on the market of white cabbage was not good. The chart also shows that the current average price of 0.50 PLN /kg is right in the middle - five seasons ago it was more expensive, five cheaper, but this is about 2.7 times higher than the lowest price in this period (0.18 PLN/kg January 2012) and 3.7 times lower than the highest (1.85 PLN/kg January 2019). So prices are much closer to the bottom than the peak.

Moreover, such a narrowing of distribution channels (and across Europe) means that the potential for further price increases is extremely limited. Recent increases have already hit exports to our southern neighbours. Colder weather could help prices, but it would also mean greater logistical difficulties.