Why prices for tomatoes and cucumbers soared

Prices for vegetables and fruits in Russia traditionally grow in winter, but this year there has been an unprecedented jump in prices for cucumbers and tomatoes. What this is connected with, Moskovskaya Pravda found out from Dmitry Morkovkin, Associate Professor of the Department of Economic Theory of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

According to Rosstat, since the beginning of 2023, vegetable prices have increased by an average of 10.4% in annual terms. And we are talking not only about tomatoes and cucumbers, but also about vegetables from the “borscht set” – onions, carrots, beets, cabbage, potatoes. But still, tomatoes and cucumbers showed the strongest growth – since the beginning of the year, their cost of cucumbers has increased by more than 53%, while tomatoes have risen in price by almost a third on average.

Some experts attribute this rise in prices to earthquakes in Turkey, which led to the disruption of supplies from that country. However, most likely, these are isolated phenomena, when sellers, having learned about disasters in this country, raised the price tag two or three times. In addition, tremors there began in early February, and the rise in prices for vegetables began at the end of last year.

— The problem of the high cost of off-season vegetables in the winter is not new. While prices for root crops from the so-called “borscht set” (potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, beets) traditionally grow at a relatively low rate closer to spring due to an established storage system, prices for tomatoes and cucumbers increase many times over, reminds Dmitry Morkovkin. – According to Rosstat, since December 2022, cucumbers have been leaders in the number of products that have risen in price. In the capital’s grocery supermarkets, a kilogram of cucumbers costs an average of 350-450 rubles. And in some regions of Russia, the price of a kilogram of cucumbers is more than 1 thousand rubles.

The expert explains this rise in prices by several factors.

— The fact is that the production of vegetables in winter is carried out mainly by the greenhouse method, and this is a very capital-intensive process, since it is associated with high energy costs. In many countries of the world, in winter, off-season fruits and vegetables are imported, as a rule, by import, so it turns out cheaper. And since import supplies in Russia under the influence of sanctions and due to the complication and rupture of established supply chains are significantly limited or completely stopped, the market is forced to compromise, using the greenhouse production method in winter, in the hope of reducing costs,” explains Dmitry Morkovkin. “At the same time, the decrease in import supplies is offset by an increase in prices on the shelves of grocery retailers, who add their “good” markup to the price of the producer-agricultural holding. At the same time, if the demand for this product remains, consumers pay more for tomatoes and cucumbers. Prices for imported vegetables also depend on exchange rate fluctuations. And in the end, all the burden of additional costs associated with import supplies or growing greenhouse products in the winter falls on the shoulders of the consumer.

By the way

Last week, according to Rosstat, cucumbers still fell a little – by 2.1%. But tomatoes have risen in price by another 4%. Bulb onion became the record holder – prices for it increased by 7% in a week.

Alena Bodrienko.

Photo by Sofia Sandurskaya / Moskva Agency