Poland, brief agricultural news week 25, 2019

Breakfast markets popular in Poland

Breakfast markets are becoming very popular in Poland in spring and summer months providing space for food producers, food processors, and restaurateurs to offer their products to consumers. Breakfast markets play different functions in the Polish society. The first is a social function, a way of spending time during weekends in cities. The second, those markets give access to niche foods. Finally, they  play an educational role, not only on the healthy food regime but also on the diversity of cuisines around the world. It's a matter of raising awareness, showing and give opportunities to taste many products that have been consciously pushed out of the market over years, or products that are not on shelves in supermarkets. Breakfast markets give chances to those who want to try to appear in the industry/Polish market, not yet knowing whether they will be interested in staying permanently. Costs of entering to the breakfast markets are low (according to organizers), and breakfast markets gives an opportunity to test, talk with the consumer, check customer service, and see how something sells.

ASF – more outbreaks in Poland

As every spring and summer the number of ASF outbreaks in Poland increases. The Chief Veterinary Officer informed on the 18th of June about 6th outbreak at the farm with 24 pigs. The disease occurred in two week-time in the same region of Lublin (East Poland). The Chief Veterinary Officer stressed that any irregularities in biosecurity will be carefully checked at farms and will result in the loss of compensation for a farmer due to occurrence of the disease. The last (5th) outbreak was located 18 kilometers from the 4th one and 2 kilometers from the 6th one. The Polish Minister of Agriculture recalled farmers on the importance of the biosecurity measures and that farmers should seriously take this into account. The ASF in Poland is present since 2014 and some farmers still have problems with making sure that their pig farms are well protected.   

Illegal Plant Protection substances found in Poland

After two months of investigation, the services in Poland have detected a record number of 92,000 kilos of illegal plant protection substances, which is three times more than a year earlier. The investigation was the third common operation of Polish services with Europol and the fourth general European operation, in which services from 28 EU countries, Ukraine, and 34 companies took part. As of 550,000 kilos of illegal plant protection substances within three thousand controls, over 92,000 kilos of illegal plant protection substances were found in Poland, of which 86 tons were detained at the border of the country. One can assume that the greater number of illegal plant protection products entering the Polish and European markets is related to the withdrawal of further active substances and the reduction of the availability of registered, legitimate plant protection products.

Source: Newspaper Rolnictwo

11 million Poles shop online

The GfK research institute has prepared a report "The World War - the whole truth about online and offline trade". The report shows that the value of turnover generated in the entire Polish trade is currently almost PLN 440 billion. One third of this turnover, 126 billion, is created in the channels of modern distribution, or shopping centers, and one-tenth, 39 billion, is generated by transactions via electronic channels.

For young consumers (15-24 years old) Internet is the most convenient way of purchase of services and products. In addition, as much as 69% in this age group believe that online shopping is simply fashionable. Similarly optimistic about e-commerce are those of 25-34 years old. However, the situation changes for older generations. Over 70 percent of consumers between 35 and 64 years of age prefer shopping in traditional stores due to the fact that they can leave the house and move around, show the results of the study.

The GfK report describes an e-shopper as a person connected to the Internet, preferably from a big city which results from higher market penetration and a characteristic lifestyle. E-shopper differs per gender. Men browse various offers more often on the Internet but women are more likely to buy, also for men's fashion. The most important, however, is the money as the wealth of consumers determines the size of the e-commerce market. The higher the income, the larger the percentage of the population actively buys online. According to GfK, the e-commerce market will especially develop the market of cheaper alternatives, e.g. online discount stores, outlet centers, concepts offering unknown, new or fresh product categories.

Internet trade is driven by big brands. The report has verified the presence of stationary brands on the Internet and to what extent they generate trade in their categories. It turned out that within each category of 5 brands, usually the largest and the best known, internet generates 80% of trade in its category.

Source: Portal spozywczy