"Unfortunately, I have to say that there is no significant decrease in prices happening," noted Inguna Gulbe, head of the agricultural market assistance department at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics, on TV24. "Although if we compare with last year, by the end of this year, prices for many groups of goods are lower than they were a year ago — for example, sugar and others. But there are also groups of goods where prices have significantly increased — for example, coffee, cocoa, and some dairy products — butter, cheese — they have become more expensive."
The reasons for this are very different. One of them is the climatic conditions: in the regions where coffee is grown, there was a drought, and the harvest failed. In the case of cocoa, there were alternating heavy rains and droughts, which is why the price has increased. However, according to Gulbe, Latvia currently has relatively low vegetable prices, and while this is good from the buyers' perspective, it is very bad for producers.
This year, it was difficult to plant potatoes: the soil was initially hard, then flooded, and then dried out. The summer turned out to be unfavorable for field crops and vegetables, and the autumn rains did not allow for a timely harvest. Vegetables stood in water for a long time, root crops became infected with rot, which is why they do not store well. Because of this, everyone who grew something is trying to sell it as quickly as possible, since it will not be possible to store the harvest for long — consequently, vegetable prices are low.
"Therefore, people need to be told that it is not advisable to buy potatoes in such large quantities to last until April, as they simply will not keep that long," warned I. Gulbe.
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