Why are tomatoes getting more expensive and cucumbers getting cheaper?

With the advent of spring, hopes are returning to us for lower prices – at least for some seasonal products, like vegetables. At least for those whose productivity depends on the length of daylight hours. But judging by the official data of Rosstat, these hopes are justified by exactly half. If cucumbers in just one month – March – fell in price by almost 22%, then tomatoes rose in price by almost the same amount – 18%. What explains this spring price paradox?

According to the country’s main statistical agency, inflation in March amounted to 0.31% after 0.46% in February. In January-March, consumer prices rose by an almost imperceptible 1.67% in terms of statistics. Whereas a year ago for the same period they gave an increase of 9.95%.

By and large, the first month of spring brought no surprises to the food market. Everything fluctuated within the limits of arithmetic error. The potato surprises, our “second bread”. Prices for it decreased by 4.6%, in mid-April it is cheaper than in September-October, during the mass harvest. This has never happened, and it should not be, because the peasants incurred significant costs for storing tubers.

But in March, on the eve of Easter, chicken eggs rose in price by 3.6%. Perhaps this growth will affect our bakery industry in the future, and, therefore, our customers.

The fact is that today there is a huge number of holiday cakes in retail trade, much more than in previous years. Apparently the bakers overdid it. Now in many stores there is a reduction in prices for these products. Depending on the weight – an average of 40%. We came across 200-gram small cute Easter cakes for 50 rubles apiece – cheaper than a cabbage pie, which costs 55 rubles.

However, the main sensation in March – greenhouse cucumbers fell in price by almost 22%, and tomatoes rose in price by almost the same amount (by 18.1%). It would seem, where does such a difference come from? They grow under one artificial sun, and the daylight hours for all greenhouse crops are the same.

Dear tomatoes housewives, as a rule, do not resent. Few people buy tomatoes these days – they, greenhouse ones, are completely tasteless, because they are “glass”. There is even a scientific explanation for this. Greenhouse tomatoes do not have the main genes inherent in their real counterparts, ground ones – hence the bad taste.

And cucumbers, according to housewives, have such genes, they have to constantly spend money on making spring salads. At the end of March, the cheapest cucumbers, long and smooth, cost 150 rubles per kilogram, short-fruited 300-350, and even reached 400 rubles. Now medium-sized pimply – 200-250 rubles.

As we were informed in the Fruit and Vegetable Union of Russia, greenhouse cucumbers are 100% domestic, in this regard we are fully self-sufficient and the March “collapse” of prices is only the beginning. There will be more to come.

– If earlier “winter” capital greenhouse facilities worked, then with the transition to the spring-summer period, seasonal complexes are connected to production, – explains Andrey Kazakov, executive director of the union. – With each passing day, this supply will increase, and prices, respectively, will decrease.

– To what extent and when will we see the cheapest cucumbers?

– I will not give forecasts, this market is highly volatile. But last year, prices for short and medium cucumbers, and this is the most expensive segment, kept at a minimum level from summer to late autumn.

– And why, unlike cucumbers, tomatoes do not get cheaper?

– For tomatoes, we are import-dependent by about 38%. And now the peak of import deliveries. The rising dollar plays its role, on the stock exchange it is traded at about 82 rubles, and two weeks ago it cost 75. This is the reason for the rise in price of tomatoes.

– Buyers note that greenhouse tomatoes are often “glass”. Where do they come to us from?

– The cheapest supplies of tomatoes from Turkey – perhaps they are in question. This product is cheap. However, Türkiye is far from being our main supplier today. “tomato conveyor” comes from Azerbaijan, China, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan. From there, we are already receiving ground tomatoes, among other things.

– When can we expect a decrease in prices for tomatoes?

– Only by the summer, when not only greenhouse, but also ground vegetables begin to ripen in the south of Russia.