Strawberries still better than expected on the Polish market
The trade campaign for domestic fresh strawberries in Poland enters the last decade of June and thus begins its summer phase (calendar-wise, as we have had thermal summer for several days). This means that we still have a peak season in terms of supply. Taking this fact into account and looking at prices we can say that it is not too bad, especially in relation to the pessimistic forecasts from the beginning of the season.
As we expected, prices for dessert strawberries fell slightly last weekend, but the reduction was limited. Indeed, prices in the larger-scale wholesale trade on Friday were at 5.50-8.00 PLN per kilogramme, and ended the weekend at 5.00-6.50 PLN per kilogramme. This represents a drop of around 15 per cent over this period.
As you can see from our graph, the average price is no longer the highest of the previous seven seasons, but has only fallen below one of them - the 2018 season. And although the vast majority of growers are of the opinion that prices are too low in relation to the inputs required for production, which have increased dramatically in the last year, the situation is nevertheless better than was quite commonly expected back at the beginning of the current season, when prices were lousy and there were many Cassandrian predictions about strawberry prices in 2022.
According to our observations, prices for dessert strawberries are being supported by the procurement prices of strawberries for processing. In this segment, the weekend brought even further increases and purchasers are currently paying 5.50-6.00 PLN per kilogram for unstalked strawberries and 3.50-4.00 PLN per kilogram for strawberries with stalk of the first quality class. Prices for strawberries in crates are 3.10-3.40 PLN/kg.
What's more, demand for strawberries for processing remains high, contrary to supply. Therefore, it can be expected that prices at clusters will at least maintain their level. It is highly likely that they will strengthen further. Especially after the supply peak at the end of June and beyond.