Russian prices for apples fell 10-15% last week. Farmers sold high-quality Autumn apples at 17-20 RUB/kg, but last week no deals exceeding 15 RUB/kg have been made.
In comparison, at the end of September 2011, apples were sold at 15-22 RUB/kg, prices for high-quality apples even reaching 25 RUB/kg. This year farmers are ready to sell at 10-12 RUB/kg, but it does not influence the tempo of trading.
The negative price tendency in the market is due to the supply continuously exceeding the demand for apples. Besides huge amounts of apples from local producers, the market is full of relatively cheap apples from Moldova.
During 2012 new farming areas started to produce crops in a big way. As a result of increased average productivity in the country, according to estimates of APK-inform: 1.6 million tons of apples will be collected this year, which is going to be a record for the last 5 years.
Source: www.freshplaza.com