Svarenieks: there could be a deficit of certain vegetables in spring

Cold and damp weather that has negatively affected the vegetable harvest in Latvia, will also affect the vegetable processing sector in spring because of a deficit of certain vegetables, says vegetable and fruit processing company Kronis board member Aivars Svarenieks.

He says that weather has affected this year’s harvest of root crops. Farms in Latvia have not been able to collect vegetables from fields because of damp weather conditions. This directly affects supply of raw materials. «Weather often affects the processing sector in this way,» says Svarenieks.
 

He adds that low harvests make it hard to acquire specific vegetables, making their prices higher and processing output – lower. If there is a lot of fruits and vegetables, however, their prices decline and processing output increases. «The cheaper the raw materials, the more products can be produced. This is especially true for seasonal crops (s, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.) – a seasonal price is important for them,» said the company’s board member.
 

He said that this year’s cucumber harvest in Latvia has been below the average level. Because of that, the price of fresh cucumbers was higher, and Kronis produced less marinated, canned and salted cucumbers. harvest in Latvia was better. However, because Poland had a poor harvest, apply traders offered s for very high prices, and most Latvian s were exported to Poland. This caused juice and pure production output in Latvia may turn out worse than it was in previous years.
 

It has also been difficult to collect potatoes from fields. This will definitely affect prices. Although potatoes are still available now, there could be problems with supplies in spring. «Currently potato prices remain on last year’s level. Nevertheless, there may be a deficit of vegetables in spring next year,» predicts Svarenieks. The situation is expected to be positive only for cabbages – there is no reason to expect a deficit of them.
 

Svarenieks predicts prices of root crops to increase in spring. Because of that, prices of their end products will rise as well. Kronis has yet to increase prices on its products, however.

BNN/LETA

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