Based on IHS Markit analysis, the price of frozen raspberry products from Poland in October 2021 was 2.4 times higher than in the same period of 2020 (4.75 euros per kg). Nonetheless, prices are likely to remain high in the coming months of the season due to the reduction in supply. BP bank expert Mariusz Dziwulski announced this.
FruitNews reports that, by 2021, the average purchase price for raspberries in Poland was PLN 13.20 ($ 3.33) per kilogram, a record level.
“The rise in prices was caused by several factors. Firstly, due to frost this year in Serbia, raspberry production has significantly decreased. Serbia is the largest raspberry producer in Europe, ahead of Poland, and also the largest supplier to the EU market. Already at the beginning of the 2021 harvest season, prices for frozen raspberries in Serbia were at an all-time high due to low stocks and high demand, says Mariusz Dzivulski.
According to the expert, raspberry production has decreased in Poland as well. Polish statistics show that this year’s harvest is 15% lower than in 2020 and totalled 104 thousand tons, although summer results were expected to be similar to those last year. A decline in raspberry production may even intensify depending on autumn raspberry harvest results, says the Central Statistical Office.
“Another factor that influenced the rise in prices was the high demand for frozen raspberries in the domestic market. This happened, on the one hand, as a result of the general increase in demand for “healthy” health products during the pandemic, and on the other hand, as a result of Poland’s filling of the supply deficit in the European market as a result of a reduction in raspberry imports from Serbia, ” Dzivulski said.
Approximately 56.3 thousand tons of frozen raspberries were exported in Poland during the 2020/21 season, a 37% increase over the previous season. This represents a 58% increase in export revenue. Eurostat reports that 68.6 thousand tons (18.5 decrease) of frozen raspberries were imported from Serbia to the EU in the same period. There was a higher growth in Polish exports of frozen raspberries (+15,3 thousand) in the 2020/21 season than that estimated by IAFE-NRI (+ 6-8 thousand).
Although the price of Polish raspberries will remain high for the foreseeable future, other countries’ supplies may partially compensate for the deficit in the EU market. Eurostat reports that, in July 2021, the total amount of frozen raspberries exported from Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina increased by 61% to 2.1 thousand tons.
