A strong demand for high-quality carrots in Russia has allowed producers to further raise prices of the vegetable, according to analysts from the EastFruit project. Carrots accounted for 10% of Russia’s vegetable imports last year.
Last week, amid a general shortage of supply, local farmers offer high-quality carrots at 15-25 rubles / kg ($ 0.23-0.38), which is on average 25% more expensive than at the end of the previous working week.
According to the producers themselves, the supply of quality carrots in the market continues to decline rapidly, since the majority of farmers have already completed the sales season, and the stocks of products in the remaining farms have already been exhausted. At the same time, the demand in this segment remains quite high, which in turn allows farmers to raise selling prices for high-quality carrots.
Market players say the rise in prices is caused by a rather high demand for high-quality carrots in conditions of limited supply. Wholesale companies and retailers are actively buying these products, while the stocks of carrots in farm vaults are rapidly declining. Many farmers managed to sell products pledged for storage, most large farms only ship their shipments under contracts.
Currently, the price of carrots in Russia is on average 36% higher than at the end of March 2018. However, Russia’s Association of Importers of Fruit and Vegetables (AIFV) says most manufacturers believe that the price of these products will continue to grow, and the rate of appreciation will accelerate as stocks decrease in warehouses. They explain this with the lack of substantial competition from imports.
