“Prices have been falling gradually, paradoxically the highest after the harvest and have been falling ever since. We are on the verge of profitability of fruit growing, if the situation does not improve, fruit growing in the current extent in the Czech Republic will be unsustainable in the long run, “added Nevole.
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Rising costs are also a problem. “Costs sometimes increase astronomically. Energy and diesel by up to 50 percent, human labor by 10 percent, services by 20 percent, fertilizers by 200 percent and they are not yet available, “Nevole described.
“What has been going on since the autumn of 2021 is simply unparalleled. I have never experienced such unprecedented cost increases in my entire professional life, and I have been cultivating this for 38 years. Increases in the tens or hundreds of percent are simply not normal, “said Nevole.
Rising costs and falling prices have the main effect that it hardly pays Czech fruit growers to sell fruit. “I only have 500 trees because the situation is unbearable for a long time. I used to have 10,000 of them, “remarked Petr Klička, who owns gardening in Dolní Újezd and Osík in the Svitavy region.
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Sady Svinčany also reports a decline. “We sell 20 to 30 percent less than in 2021. We still have a significant amount of apples in stock and we do not know whether we can sell them as consumer or whether they will end up at very low processing prices,” said Nevole.
Long-term customers
However, people from the region used to buy local fruit in small warehouses. “Currently, sales have decreased slightly compared to last year, but not significantly. People are used to coming here, so the price reduction does not directly affect us, “said Josef Mlateček from Agrospol Hostovice, which has orchards in Ostřešany.
He added that they would sell everything they grow directly from their warehouse. “Interest is at the level of previous years. We have regular customers who come to us and take our apples regularly, “added Mlateček. They sell apples stably for a maximum of 22 crowns per kilogram.
Many people still prefer Czech apples. “Apples have been really cheap lately, but most of them are imported, which doesn’t appeal to me much. I will always prefer fresh and high-quality fruit from Czech farms than cheap and low-quality imports, “said Karolína Černá from Holice.
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Fruit growers see the point in limiting subsidies for importing apples from abroad. “The prices of imported apples could be changed by the current price of petrol and diesel for almost fifty crowns. I hope that people will realize that it is not worthwhile to transport fruit across the continent, “said Klička. “The Green Deal is still being addressed, but the fact that food is transported across half of Europe is not being addressed. When we grow apples in the Pardubice region, it is also cheaper to eat them in the region than to eat apples, which go here, for example, 2,000 kilometers, ”he added.
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