Limited demand for savoy cabbage in Poland

Two years ago, January brought a sharp increase in the price of savoy cabbage at the large wholesaler. For January2019, the average selling price of this cabbage increased by almost 64 per cent to 2.70 zloty/kg. A year ago this was much weaker, but still in January2020 the average price maintained a good level of 1.90 PLN/kg, rising to 2.00 PLN/kg at the very end of the month.

The current season has been worse in terms of trading activity and wholesale prices for savoy cabbage and compared to the start of 2019 and 2020. For the first half of January this year, the average selling price remained at 1.40 PLN/kg, the same as in September-December 2020. Only recently have prices strengthened - by an average of 21 per cent to the current level of 1.40-2.00 PLN/kg.

This strengthening is the result of a shortage of good quality savoy cabbage. The market is dominated by poor quality and cheaper goods. These quality problems are not encouraging buyers to increase their wholesale purchases, as they are not encouraging consumers to reach for this cabbage. In addition, the catering blockade is hitting this sector hard and the lack of quality goods is also hitting exports.