The situation on the gooseberry market is very heated. The prices of fruit for processing are very low, which causes frustrations for producers and the suspicion of price collusion. Paweł Kraciński, expert from the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Food Economy at the Polish National Research Institute, explains why that is.
“The area of gooseberry cultivation in Poland is estimated at about two thousand hectares, and the harvest of these fruits in recent years has oscillated at around ten thousand tons. This is not a large amount compared to other fruit species grown in Poland, but the problems with the sale of gooseberry arouse a lot of emotions in the production circles,” says Paweł Kraciński.
He admits that in the current season, as in the previous one, producers have faced serious problems with fruit sales. Purchase prices ranged from 0.30 PLN / kg to 0.50 PLN / kg (0.07-0.12 EUR / kg), though even lower rates were found locally. However, the problem is not only the very low prices, which do not even cover the costs of production, but also the lack of interest in gooseberries. Enterprises do not want to buy gooseberries, arguing that the demand for fruit and processed products is lower than domestic production.
“Meanwhile, growers are looking for other causes,” Kraciński says. “The fact is that part of the production will be wasted, despite good fruit quality. Lack of interest in purchasing gooseberries, despite low prices, may indicate that the processors actually come across a barrier of demand.”
