Falling prices: in Uzbekistan fresh produce fall by 40% in just two years

In late May 2024, EastFruit reported on the late start of the stone fruit harvesting season in Central Asian countries. The spring of 2024 proved to be unusually cool and rainy, leading to delays in the ripening of many fruits, including cherries, which adversely affected their quality parameters, noted EastFruit experts.

However, the consequences of the weather anomalies did not end there: this year's cherry season in the Fergana Valley (the main cherry-producing region of Uzbekistan) will also be very short due to the unusually early start of the late cherry varieties harvest.

"In the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan, the harvest of early cherry varieties this season began about two weeks later than usual. It seemed that the weather conditions were not expected to have a significant impact on late cherry varieties, at least no significant shifts were expected in the harvest start date."

"However, contrary to expectations, the harvest of late cherry varieties started much earlier than usual. Consequently, even the cherry harvesting season in the Fergana Valley this year will end much earlier than the long-term average dates," said Farrukh Abdulkhalimov, director of agronomic process management at the Frutystan group of companies, one of Uzbekistan's largest cherry producers.

"The main reason for the early start of the late cherry varieties harvest is that they accumulated many chilling hours and started vegetation almost simultaneously, or with a slight time difference compared to early cherry varieties. Early varieties have fewer chilling hours but could not start vegetation earlier due to weather conditions."

"For example, late cherry varieties such as Ziraat, Regina, and Sweet Heart accumulated approximately 1,600-1,700 hours, while the norm is around 1,200 hours. As a result, these varieties 'woke up' quite 'vigorously' and then quickly gained the so-called 'summer hours'."

Image 1: Average price of sweet cherries in Uzbekistan (caliber up to 26mm). Source: East Fruit.

According to EastFruit's price monitoring data, as of June 7, 2024, the average wholesale price of fresh cherries in Uzbekistan for sizes up to 26 mm was 15,000 UZS/kg (1.18 dollars), which is 12% lower than the same date in 2023 and 41% lower than the same date in 2022.

Read the full article: East Fruit
Image: UZ Daily

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