The ongoing 2021/22 crop for EU27 has been estimated at 11,777 tons [Jan ‘22 update]; this is 6,7% higher than the preceding 5 year average and 11 % above the small crop of the past marketing year (data from WAPA for 20 MSs, from Eurostat for the remaining 7 MSs).
After two years of below average crop volumes and relatively high prices, the ongoing marketing year is registering prices coming to normal levels or even below in some cases; in the case of Poland, the embargo of Belarus has implied higher stocks than expected; the crisis package is expected to having a positive impact both in PL and in other Member States.
Export logistics is being a huge challenge in many parts of the world but the EU is relatively less affected by that situation. The sector faces temporarily several challenges:
- Rising input costs (especially energy, transportation fees and other farm inputs)
- Bottlenecks and high costs on road a vessel transport (high maritime freight rates)
- Labour shortage (especially for harvesting and regarding lorry drivers).
The first year of the pandemics registered firm demand and the second year a return to normal levels.