Polish apples are currently the cheapest in Eastern Europe. According to statistics, the rates received by Polish growers stand at 0.15-0.31 Euro per kilo, while Ukrainians get 0.21-0.41 Euro, Russians 0.52-0.82 Euro and Moldovan and Belarusian growers obtain around 0.28 Euro per kilo.
"Despite us being the cheapest, we are paradoxically not selling well. We don't have a lot of apples of the highest quality and only those can be sold at better prices," affirms Witold Boguta, president of the National Association of Fruit and Vegetable Producers (KZGPOiW).
He recalls that, a year ago, "many countries were buying apples from us and re-shipping them further to the East. This year, the borders are sealed and these countries are not able to sell the apples, and with the further depreciation of the rouble, those imported apples in Russia would be very expensive," says the head of KZGPOiW.
Based on past experience, fruit growers have assumed that the turn of the year will bring changes and that exports to Poland's eastern neighbours will grow; however, "we do not expect an increase in prices by the end of the season and that could still prove problematic for their sale," admits Witold Boguta.
