Industrial raspberries on sale.

The raspberry market in Poland has clearly entered a phase where autumn raspberries dominate, and their supply is supplemented with fruits grown in tunnels. This usually means a certain increase in the supply of these fruits compared to the transitional phase when there are few autumn raspberries and the summer ones are disappearing from the market.

However, this year the improvement in supply is highly relative. This means that there are more raspberries now than a week or two ago, but generally there is a scarcity of them on the market because raspberry harvests in Poland this year are low. According to GUS data, the year-on-year production decline in this segment was as high as 14 percent, with the 2024 harvest expected to be a modest 83,000 tons.

Yet, raspberry purchase prices for processing have clearly decreased at a time when only slightly more autumn raspberries have appeared on the market. Currently, raspberry purchase prices for freezing range from 7.00-8.00 PLN/kg, which is 17 percent less than a week ago. Purchase prices for raspberries in the second quality class are currently 7.00-7.50 PLN/kg, which is 9 percent less than a week ago.

Why such a price reduction in the market conditions where there is no talk of an excess of domestic raspberries, and with a relatively good demand in processing? It seems that this is more a result of the hopes and expectations of processors that the supply of cheap raspberries from abroad will finally increase. Once again, it's about fruits from Ukraine. Sources from there indicate that the autumn raspberry harvest in Ukraine is expected to be significantly better than that of the summer raspberries. Will these expectations be met? We shall see.