Poland: the dark side of the Warsaw strawberry market

Wholesale prices for strawberries in Poland this summer fell to 5 zlotys (1.1 euros) per kilogram from 6.5 zlotys last year. However, retail prices continue to rise. Why?

Some argue that the price volatility was primarily due to COVID-19, which hampered hiring and dramatic weather changes this summer. When the weather turns into dry summer heat due to a tropical storm in just a few minutes, demand is unpredictable.

“One day strawberries are bought quickly, the next day it takes several hours,” says a merchant. – Sometimes, buy a bigger container of strawberries, and on the way to the city markets the weather suddenly changes and the price drops. What to do then? “, Question.

From the producers’ point of view, strawberries don’t like a lot of water, and when the heat hits, they rot quickly, he adds. The quality of this year’s strawberry crop has deteriorated, says Božena Nosecka of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics. “The volume of the strawberry harvest is similar to last year, but the quality is lower,” she says. Recent heavy rains and storms have destroyed many plantations. The price is also higher for consumers, in part due to the inclusion of risks such as crop damage.

Big business

Furthermore, since the Polish government introduced one of the strictest quarantine measures in Europe in mid-March, some 150,000 of the approximately one million Ukrainians living in Poland (its largest group of migrants) have left the country and have now There is a shortage of strawberry pickers in Poland.

2019 a total of 175,000 tons of strawberries were harvested, compared to 195,600 tons the previous year. According to the Polish Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, this year’s strawberry harvest is at least 2019. There are around 50,000 hectares of strawberry plantations across Poland. Depending on the climate, between 180 and 200 million kilograms are collected each year, making Poland the second largest strawberry producer in Europe.

Illegal sales

The Warsaw Mokotovo District Prosecutor’s Office, which is part of the Ministry of Justice, says that the trade in retail kiosks spread across the city is costing the state budget millions of zlotys. Everything is done without cash registers, so merchants pay no taxes and are likely to hire additional people, usually unemployed, minors or foreigners, including more and more Ukrainians.

Slawomir Smyk, a senior inspector who represents city inspectors, says that his colleagues generally know who is involved in the illegal trade. Dealers always drive luxury cars, which they register on behalf of family members, another inspector says, “Just look in the parking lot.”

“Yes, there is an illegal trade problem in Warsaw. People who engage in human trafficking generally work for larger, more organized groups,” says Smyk, adding that their managers often employ the elderly or the unemployed. “However, thanks to many years of efforts by municipal inspectors in Warsaw, illegal trade has decreased significantly,” he notes.

Unfortunately, city inspectors can’t do much, they only impose fines that few pay. Officials generally cannot intervene directly because the crime is committed by the person who physically sells the products. According to inspectors, at the most popular points, goods worth tens of thousands of zlotys usually disappear within a few hours, and sellers pay 20 to 40 zlotys a day. So if merchants are fined up to 500 zlotys, they generally don’t pay. “A fine is basically a form of ineffective punishment because merchants do not have a stable income,” says Smyk.

City inspectors check if there are pesos at the point of sale or if there are prices next to the products being sold, if the seller can be identified, fined or punished in court. “Those who engage in such practices generally violate tax, sanitation, and order or epidemiological requirements,” city inspectors say.

Inspectors sometimes confiscate assets. When they are successful, the products are transported to cold stores until the court decides what to do with them, says Smyk.