In 2021, sour cherry season in Moldova, like other stone fruits, began about two weeks later than last year. However, the dynamics of prices for sour cherries is radically different from that for other stone fruits, in particular, for cherries. Cherries became available on the local market in the last decade of June. They were offered at the same wholesale price as cherries of medium and high quality for the domestic market then – 15-20 MDL/kg ($ 0.83-1.11/kg). Since then, cherries of any quality have become cheaper. Whereas the prices for sour cherries were kept at the same level and since last week they started to increase. At the beginning of this week, the wholesale price for sour cherries in Moldova rose to 19-25 MDL/kg ($ 1.05-1.38/kg), which is comparable to the price level for export-quality cherries.

Last year, the average wholesale price for sour cherries was in the range of 18-20 MDL/kg ($ 1-1.11/kg) for almost the entire sales season, six weeks. Only in the last, seventh week of the season, the price increased to an average of 25 MDL/kg ($ 1.4/kg). At the beginning of the third week of July 2021, the average price for sour cherries in Moldova is at least 22-23 MDL/kg ($ 1.21-1.27/kg). At the same time, domestic market operators believe that sour cherries will be on sale for at least two more weeks, during which prices may well rise. The reason for this assumption is the low forecast for the harvest in 2021 and a relatively high demand from exporters and processors.

The area of ​​fruit-bearing sour cherry orchards in Moldova is estimated by the experts of the organizations of fruit growers at 3.7-3.8 thousand hectares. In 2018-2019 the commercial production of sour cherries in the country, according to expert estimates, amounted to 7-8 thousand tons. Last year it dropped to about 6 thousand tons. In 2021, due to rainy weather in June, significant amount of fruits deteriorated on the trees; farmers look to the harvest of late-ripening sour cherry varieties. As a result, the sour cherry harvest is unlikely to exceed 4-5 thousand tons this year.

The main share of sour cherries in Moldova is sold on the domestic market and is used to meet the demand of local end consumers and the food industry. According to the Ministry of Agriculture MADRM, in the second half of the 2000s, up to 3 thousand tons of sour cherries were supplied to the Moldovan cannery every season. In the last two or three seasons, they process a maximum of several hundred tons of this raw material. To some extent, producers of dried fruits and fruit distillates have replaced canners in the technical sour cherry market. However, they purchase no more than 1-1.5 thousand tons of sour cherries in total.

At the same time, since the second half of the last decade, the export of Moldovan sour cherries has been growing (except for lean years). In 2016, 530 tons of cherries were exported from the country, in 2017 – more than 1,000 tons, in 2018 – 1.9 thousand tons, in 2019 – 1.4 thousand tons, in 2020 – 1.8 thousand tons.

Over the past three years, the average invoice price for sour cherries exported from Moldova has been growing steadily. It is quite likely that by the end of 2021, the average export price for sour cherries will not be lower than last year’s.

In this regard, it is worth considering that the main export of Moldovan sour cherries falls on June and July. Last year, in terms of volumes and the amount of supplies, these two months were almost equal. Given the late start of the 2021 season, it can be assumed that this year this will be relevant, as well.

Over the past five years, Moldovan sour cherries have been exported to six countries.

Moldova exports the main share of sour cherries to the Russian Federation, in 2019 and 2020 – 1.3 thousand and 1.7 thousand tons, respectively.

It should be noted that almost all Moldovan sour cherries in Russia go to the fresh market. Whereas sour cherries exported by Moldova to the EU countries are mainly processed. This is likely to be the case this year, given the unstable quality of sour cherries.

Сообщение Moldovan sour cherries: relatively high prices and a reduced harvest появились сначала на EastFruit.

Sour cherry harvesting started in Ukraine this week, according to EastFruit project analysts. So far, only small lots are offered for sale. At the same time, project experts note that despite the fact that the sour cherry sales season this year began a week later than usual, prices have already started to decline.

The first small batches of sour cherries at the beginning of the week became available on the market at UAH 30-40/kg ($ 1.10-1.47/kg), but today their selling prices have dropped to UAH 25/kg ($ 0.92/kg). Growers plan to enter the market with higher volumes next week.

Growers explain the decline in selling prices in the sour cherry segment at the very beginning of the current season by a rather low demand. It is notable that today cherries and strawberries can be bought at almost the same prices. Also, processing enterprises do not purchase sour cherries yet, since the price is still high for them.

Market operators believe that the average price for sour cherries this season may be lower than last year, due to a higher harvest. It is worth noting that sour cherries suffered the least from adverse weather conditions among all the stone fruits. At the same time, many growers forecast a decline in prices in this segment as early as next week.

Сообщение Sour cherry prices in Ukraine started to decline at the beginning of the season появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit experts decided to pay attention to sour cherries that are wrongly valued less than cherries, but are important fruits for Uzbekistan! What are the current prices for sour cherries in different regions of Uzbekistan? Where are the highest and lowest sour cherry prices in this country? We answer these questions in this article.

Sour cherries are not as popular as their closest relative cherries. In addition, they are almost unknown in most countries, where sweet and large berries are preferred. Sour cherries can be called a traditionally “Slavic fruit”, as they are grown in the largest volumes in predominantly Slavic Ukraine, Russia and Poland. Serbia and Belarus are also among the global leaders in production. Sour cherries are a national symbol in Ukraine, since they grow in almost every household there.

Uzbekistan is among the world leaders in the production of sour cherries and, according to various estimates, annually harvests 50-60 thousand tons of sour cherries, which makes the country one of the ten largest global producers of sour cherries. Since sour cherries do not require special care and high growing costs, they are an important source of income for small and medium farmers in Uzbekistan.

Unlike cherries, sour cherries have a bright, sour taste. Thus, it is much more valuable for the processing and production of jams, marmalades, and confectionery. Sour cherries are in great demand in the bakery and even in the dairy industry as a filling for yoghurts. Also, sour cherry juice is more widespread than cherry juice. Dessert varieties of sour cherries have recently become available on the fresh market, which can even compete with cherries in taste.

Therefore, there have been a lot of discussions among consumers in social networks lately, which is better – sour cherry or cherry? There are lovers of each fruit and even in Uzbekistan there are consumers who love sour cherries more.

Sour cherries are divided into two categories in terms of pricing in the domestic fresh market of Uzbekistan: regular and the so-called “dowel” – large and fleshy sour cherries. Their prices are set separately, and “dowel” always cost more than regular sour cherries, since their use is much wider, especially in the confectionery industry.

According to users of social networks, relatively low retail prices for sour cherries are now found in three regions of the Fergana Valley and Khorezm region. The cheapest sour cherries in the country are in the Namangan region – they are two times cheaper than the national average. Sour cherries are sold at 7,000 sums or $ 0.66 per kg. Also, sour cherries here are three times cheaper than in the regions where the highest prices are recorded – Bukhara and Navoi regions.

In general, the average retail price of sour cherries in the Fergana Valley was at the level of 4,000 sums ($ 0.38) per kg, with prices ranging from 3,000 sums ($ 0.28) to 6,000 sums ($ 0.57).

We also noticed a pattern – relatively low prices for cherries were recorded in the regions where stone fruit trees were least affected by frosts in late February and mid-March. On the contrary, higher prices are noted in the southern and central parts of the republic, where EastFruit forecasted more damage to the harvest of stone fruits from the frosts. An exception is the Republic of Karakalpakstan where sour cherry prices are high, despite the fact that weather anomalies almost bypassed this region. This is likely due to the potential low volume of sour cherry production in the region.

According to the EastFruit wholesale price monitoring, wholesale prices for sour cherries in 2021 are even lower than in the previous two years. The average wholesale price is around 51 US cents, up from 69 cents a year earlier and 94 US cents in 2019. However, wholesale sour cherry prices are more difficult to track because large bulks are rarely offered on wholesale markets.

Сообщение How much do sour cherries cost in Uzbekistan and in which regions prices are the lowest? появились сначала на EastFruit.