The weather conditions and the abandonment of plantations due to the low profitability of the crop in 2015 have caused a decrease in this year's black currant harvest in Poland. Consequently, the purchase price of these fruits has increased, according to Ms Bozena Nosecka, an expert from the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Food Economy.
"Processors confirm that more juice (mainly concentrated juice) was produced in 2015 than in the previous year. A part of the production could not be sold, which had a significant impact on the level of demand for these fruits by domestic processing plants, bringing prices down below the production costs," she admits.
Ms Nosecka states that the average purchase prices of black currant amounted to approximately 0.70 zł/kg (0.16 Euro/kg), compared to 0.55 złoty/kg (0.126 Euro/kg) in 2015. This is the third year in a row that the cultivation of black currant in Poland has not been profitable for the producers.
