Poland, brief agricultural news week 23, 2020

Strawberries in Poland

According to experts from the Polish Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics this year's strawberry harvest should not be lower than in 2019. However, ultimately its size depends on the weather. Last year, 175 thousand tonnes were collected. Every year, strawberry plantings grow, because the production is getting more profitable in recent years. There are approx. 50 thousand ha of strawberry crops in Poland. Depending on the weather, 180-200 million kg of fruit is collected annually, which in 2018 gave Poland second place in Europe.

Most strawberries go for frozen food and preserves. They are exported mainly in frozen form. Only about 6% are consumption strawberries. Those strawberries are sold mainly on the domestic market.

Source: Polityka, SadyOgrody.pl, Farmer.pl

Decrease in Polish food exports foreseen due to corona epidemics

According to the recent report prepared by SpotData for Santander Bank Polska, the value of Polish food exports in 2020 may decrease by about 8 percent, dropping from last year's EUR31.4bn to EUR28.9bn. The scale of the reduction would be the largest since Poland's accession to the European Union.

Surveys conducted by the Central Statistical Office (GUS) show that the percentage of food producers reporting a drop in exports in April exceeded the share of food producers reporting a hike in exports by 27 pps. In May, the gap increased to 36 percentage points.

Director of SpotData Ignacy Morawski suggests the nearest future will be difficult for the economy. However, he believes the instruments provided by the governments of the USA and EU member states will be effective and prevent a lasting drop in demand.

Authors of the report emphasise that the Polish food industry has strong foundations and benefits from significant competitive advantages.

Source: PNB Economic Review

Organic market in Poland

The value of sales of organic food in Poland in 2019 was approx. 620 million pln. However, the number of entities on the eco market including farms is decreasing. A much smaller group of processors is growing.
At the end of 2019, 20.2 thousand entities operated in the organic farming system in Poland. It is a decrease of 2% compared to last year. The number of agricultural producers also fell by 3% - up to 18.6 thousand.  Instead, the number of processors increased by 6.3% number of and currently it is about 970 companies.
The number of importers is growing: by 16.3% percent compared to previous year. This may be due to the fact that many Polish farmers do not profit from selling agricultural products to local processors, their production is processed abroad and then partly imported into Poland under foreign brands.

Source: Wiadomościhandlowe.pl, Rzeczpospolita