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Vegetables up to three times cheaper than last year

According to data from the Polish Ministry of Agriculture, the price of cabbage in October stood an average of 0.28 zloty*/kg, which is 63 percent less than in the previous month and up to three times less than in the corresponding period of the previous year. According to Magdalena Kowalewska, expert analyst of the agricultural markets at BGZ BNP Paribas, the large price declines are mainly due to a significant increase in the production of vegetables in Poland. According to estimates from the Central Statistical Office of Poland (GUS), this year’s white cabbage production was more than 17 percent greater than in 2015, and it amounted to over 1 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, the average price of onions in October amounted to 0.41 zloty/kg and was 30 percent lower than in the previous month and more than half lower than the year before.

“The fall in onion prices in the domestic market was also caused by an increased supply. According to the GUS, this year’s onion production will be about 15 percent greater compared to the previous year and is estimated at 630 thousand tonnes,” added Magdalena Kowalewska.

“The price of onions has also been affected by the higher yields expected by the leading producers in the EU, including Spain, Germany or the Netherlands. As a result, there will be a noticeable drop in the demand for imports from these countries. In the first eight months of this year, nearly 100 thousand tonnes of onions have been exported, which is 14 percent less than in the same period last year. Prospects also point to a lower demand for imports from Brazil, Senegal or Ivory Coast,” explains the expert of BGZ BNP Paribas.

As for carrots, the product has been sold at an average of 0.53 zloty/kg, which means the price level has more than halved (-54 percent) compared to October of the previous year and is 8 percent lower than in September. This is due the expected higher yields, which the GUS has estimated at 786 thousand tonnes, an increase of 16 percent compared to the previous year.

Also, the average price of potatoes, during the period at hand, has stood at 0.31 zloty/kg, which is about 23 percent below the average in September and about 43 percent lower than in October last year.

In the case of mushrooms, the average price in October was nearly 2 percent greater compared to last year and stood slightly above (+0.05 percent) that of September, reaching 5.23 zloty/kg. This, among other things, is a consequence of the increase in import demand from the United Kingdom, Germany and Belarus. In the first seven months of this year, the volume of exports of mushrooms increased by 4 percent compared to 2015 and amounted to nearly 130 thousand tonnes.

“Similar trends can be observed in the case of greenhouse cucumbers, which in October, recorded an average price of 4.42 zloty/kg, which is almost one-fifth more than in the corresponding period of the previous year,” added Magdalena Kowalewska.

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