The growth of demand on white cabbage in Poland

The turn of February and March brought a clear downturn on the Polish white cabbage market. Wholesale prices began to fall on the wave of shrinking demand. Cabbage prices for processing, which previously reached 1.00 PLN/kg, fell to 0.60-0.70 PLN/kg. Market cabbage prices have fallen from an average of 1.25 PLN per kilo to 1.05  kilo, a 16 percent drop.

This trend would probably continue for some time at least, but the Russian attack on Ukraine has changed the market reality. Large shipments of vegetables have started to arrive in the Ukraine. Apart from cabbage, these included the basic vegetables, the so-called borscht set: onions, beets and carrots. This was the main factor that caused the price trend on the Polish cabbage market to reverse. To this can be added another significant weakening of the zloty, which hit imports from Germany and the Netherlands.

Currently, the price of cabbage for the fresh market (good quality) is most often 1.00-1.30 PLN per kilo on the large wholesale market. This is an increase of less than 10 per cent since the bottom at the beginning of the month. The question is whether Ukrainian demand can withstand further price increases? If Polish cabbage is too expensive, this demand will undoubtedly weaken. It is also worth noting that while cabbage for the fresh market has risen in price, that for processing has remained at 0.60-0.70 PLN/kg. This suggests that the proportion of lower-quality cabbage in Polish stocks is rising, while there is little of the good stuff. And this will sooner or later force an increase in the prices of the latter.