The hot and dry summer in Germany is over for now. But consumers are likely to still feel the effects. Prices of individual vegetables have already increased in recent weeks.
Trade is 'interposed'
The heat and dryness really worried farmers in Germany this summer. Many feared for their harvest. Fruit and vegetable growers now draw a up mixed picture, at the beginning of autumn. Apple yields could look good, after the difficult year of 2017. Outdoor vegetables in particular have suffered from the drought. Even where water was used, in some places the water was not enough to meet the needs.
"Overall, the expected fluctuations for the consumer are not dramatic," says Martin Umhau of the German Agricultural Society (DLG). After all, the fruit and vegetable market has long been organized along global lines. "Bottlenecks in Germany are offset by foreign produce," says Umhau.
So in general, prices should only fluctuate a little. Furthermore, consumer prices do not always follow producer prices. "The trade is interposed," explains Thomas Els of the Agricultural Market Information Society (AMI). Nevertheless, there are some outliers regarding particular vegetables.
Apples, pears and cherries
After the difficult harvest of last year, the apple trees are full this year. In 2017, a late frost aided the apple growers. As a result, apples are still 20% more expensive than they were a year ago in August, but prices have dropped in the past week.
This year, experts like Hans-Dieter Stallknecht from the German Farmers' Association expect almost twice yield of last year, which will have a corresponding effects on the prices. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the apple harvest will amount to 1.1 million tons - 82 percent more than in the previous year and almost 17 percent above the average of the past ten years. Even regarding pears, the Wiesbaden authority expects a doubling of the harvest, to 46,800 tons. The situation is similar for cherries.
Potatoes
The ubiquitous tuber, however, really suffered from the drought. "For potatoes, this year's yield is lower than in 2017, when we had plenty of potatoes and prices bottomed out," says Umhau.
He expects a price increase of 30 percent compared to last year; in August, consumers already had to spend 10 percent more for a kilogram of potatoes, according to data from the AMI. But that was not only caused by the drought, but was also due to the low prices of the year before, where a large supply pushed down prices, said Umhau.
Lettuces
You can also see this effect with other open field vegetables grown In the case of head and iceberg lettuce, the Federal Statistical Office registered a significant price increase in August.
Lettuce is grown on large areas and need plenty of water at high temperatures. And even that did not suffice for the dried-up soils in some places. According to AMI data, in August consumers had to spend a good 27 percent more on lettuce than in the same month last year, with iceberg lettuce demanding about 70 percent more.
Carrots and onions
They are also cultivated in the open field. Here, too, the weather has depressed yields. For onions, this year's harvest is estimated to be a quarter less than the average yield.
Cucumbers
Cucumbers at the beginning of September were more expensive than they had been in a long time. For a short time, on average they cost more than one euro apiece, a price that is rarely seen, even in winter.
The reason was a bottleneck, as several growers in several countries had taken out and replaced their old plants, explains Michael Koch, AMI market analyst for horticulture. The sensitive plants are indeed kept in greenhouses, but the heat affected them as well.
Tomatoes
Some 80 percent of summer vegetables like zucchinis, aubergines or tomatoes, are produced in greenhouses under controlled conditions. Here, the weather really has little influence. In summer, when tomatoes were harvested throughout Europe, prices went down as usual.
Thanks to the warm temperatures, tomatoes in Germany and the Benelux countries ripened faster than usual, which increased the effect on pricing. Therefore, vine tomatoes cost 16 percent less in August than they did a year ago.
Cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, etc.
For the so-called finer cabbages, the supply was scarce. Cauliflower, for example, saw a price of € 1.84 per unit at the beginning of September. A year earlier it was just over € 1.00.
Prices of kohlrabi and broccoli were also on the rise. For broccoli, the Federal Association of Producer Organizations Fruits and Vegetables registered a price increase of 6 percent in August. Here there were weather-related failures in the fields, and traders could not rely on imports from the rest of Europe.
Source: RP Online