Fruit - unprofitable: in Russia in June the prices of berries sharply increased

In the first month of summer, the retail price of strawberries increased by 24%, and cherries by 38%. This was reported by an analytical company that tracks receipts in retail trade. June is considered a month of high demand for strawberries and cherries, but the total volume of their purchases by Russians has decreased: not everyone has the opportunity to pay crazy money. MK found out from experts what is happening on the berry market and how prices will change in the future.

In Russia, the price of berries has increased sharply at the height of the season, analytical companies unanimously claim, and they differ only in their estimates of the price increase. According to the Check Index platform, strawberries in June cost 15% more than a year ago: an average of 835 rubles were asked for a kilogram of this berry. Cherries went up in price by 11%, to 585 rubles per kg. The price of blueberries increased by 11%, to 1.5 thousand rubles per kg. At the same time, the research company NTech noted an even more pronounced price increase: strawberries have risen in price by 24% over the year, reaching 719.5 rubles per kg, and cherries - by 38%, to 530.4 rubles per kg. It turns out that berries in Russia are becoming more expensive than the official inflation, which by the end of June, according to Rosstat, reached 9.39%. In fact, cherries are increasing in price four times faster than the official price increase, and strawberries are increasing more than 2.5 times.

June is considered the month of high demand for berries. It is curious, however, that this year the situation on the market turned out to be unusual. The volume of purchases of strawberries decreased by 9%, and cherries by 5% compared to last year, but prices still increased.

Experts argued about the reasons for this. "The main problem is high logistics costs," said Ivan Petrov, head of the logistics department at the Financial University. "Even for berries grown in traditional Russian regions, transportation and storage costs have increased by more than 20%. At the same time, a large volume of berries has been replaced by imports, and supply logistics are complicated, including by the limited routes due to sanctions, which significantly increases the cost of transportation and creates risks of spoilage of products. All this is also compensated for by the growth of wholesale and retail prices."

But there is another opinion. "The rise in prices for strawberries and cherries is mainly due to the weather factor," believes Natalia Milchakova, leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global. "The cold start of May caused a crop failure of strawberries and cherries in the south of Russia, which led to a reduction in the supply of berries. But the cold May also affected the countries of the South Caucasus and Turkey, from which Russia mainly imports strawberries, so imports could not fully replace domestic products, and this situation arose during the period of maximum growth in demand for berries." The share of imports on the Russian berry market, including strawberries and cherries, is 58%, which means that in this segment of the food market, Russia has a critical dependence on supplies from abroad. And this is a "time bomb" that affects prices: if imports are reduced or there is a crop failure of garden berries in Russia, prices will immediately go up sharply.

According to Dmitry Leonov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Rusprodsoyuz Association, the upward trend corresponds to seasonality: starting from the second half of June, in the context of a seasonal reduction in supply volumes, strawberry prices, as a rule, begin to rise. Self-sufficiency in berries and stone fruits is about 42%. "We have not yet reached the food security threshold of 60%," the expert noted. "We import fruits and berries, in particular cherries, in large quantities from abroad. The main volumes of cherry supplies to the Russian market occur in June-July. The key suppliers are traditionally Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey." Another factor influencing the cost of berries is the state of the labor market. "The current price increase is due to a sharp increase in production costs," continues the conversation the head of the "Berry Academy" project, the general director of the FruitNews news agency Irina Koziy. "Difficulties with the entry of foreign workers have led to a significant increase in the cost of labor, the cost of transportation has increased, all the equipment and materials that farmers need have become more expensive, the cost of lending has increased." Since we are currently seeing the introduction of more and more bans, restrictions, additional requirements and fees that make farms more expensive to operate, it is most likely that the cost of production and, accordingly, the price of products will continue to grow in the future.