Poland: agricultural news week 48

Agricultural land sale suspention prolonged with 5 years?

Still this year the Polish government plans to adopt an amendment to the act on suspending the sale of Treasury real estate for the next 5 years, i.e. until 2026. The current regulations allow the suspension of sales until April 30, 2021.

It was added that it is proposed that the suspension of the sale should not include shares in joint ownership of the real estate. Lease stays the primary method of use of state owned real estate.

Source: PAP

Pig sector in Poland

The situation of pig producers in Poland is changing for the worse. Purchase prices offered to domestic pig producers are now below PLN 4 per kg (1 euro/kilo) of live cattle which do not cover production costs. The president of the Pig Association in Poland points out that the decline in purchase prices exceeds 30% compared to the prices from last years. Many meat processors postpone the collection of livestock. Transports with porkers from Germany enter Poland, which due to limited processing capacity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, cannot be slaughtered in the slaughterhouses in Germany. This gives more problems to Polish farmers to see their animals. In the most difficult are farmers producing in the African Swine Fever zones who are waiting for pigs to be collected by meat plants very long, and the proposed purchase prices are lower than the national average. In addition, purchasing power of consumers will not increase significantly in the coming months due to COVID 19 pandemic and limited operational work of HoReCA industry.

Mushroom production during pandemic

The export of mushrooms in retail packaging is going relatively well. Poland managed to maintain stable markets, but during certain periods, mainly in the spring time, when pandemic started, fewer shipments were made. The prices of mushrooms remained unchanged, according to the data of the Polish Association of the Cultivated Mushroom Industry.

75% of mushrooms produced in Poland goes abroad. In mushroom industry Poland is absolutely dependent on exports.

The situation has been very serious since spring. Particularly at the very beginning of the pandemic, there was great uncertainty. The more as in countries where large amounts were shipped, i.e. Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain, a lockdown was introduced. Schools, restaurants and hotels were closed. HoReCa suffered what meant lack of orders. The introduced restrictions, especially in Great Britain, made it very difficult to trade in mushrooms.

Production and trade

At the very beginning of the pandemic, manufacturers limited the production of substrate. After three weeks, there were significantly fewer mushrooms on the market. At the moment, the production of the substrate is relatively normal.

The pandemic has caused great instability in trade. Order for five cars suddenly turns into two cars. It is known that the mushrooms will sell out by Christmas, but then there is a 'dead period'.

Labour

Mushrooms are grown all year round. There is no seasonality in this industry. Production is very labor intensive, which means people are needed. This year, the great challenge was to find employees for mushroom picking. After all, Poland employs workers from the Eastern border in the entire horticultural sector. Currently, the situation is slowly normalizing.

Source: SadyOgrodry.pl