Poland, brief agricultural news week 13, 2020

Bulb flower sector hit by the crisis

Polish bulb flower producers are important recipients of Dutch bulbs for cut flowers. As last winter was quite mild Polish producers have a relatively large amount of their own material for further use, which means that the order scale coming from Poland for Dutch bulbs will be limited in the coming season. In addition, Polish companies are already reporting huge losses (51 producers of the association of flower bulb producers have already noted a combined loss of 10 million pln, which is approx. 2.3 million eur). This will cause a total shift towards vegetable production in many cases. In any case, the Dutch sector can expect lower orders from the Polish side in the coming years.

LAN-WAR own report- AM

Will the food delivery save Polish restaurants?

On March 13, 2020, all restaurants, pubs, clubs, bars, casinos and other entertainment venues in Poland were suspended. Eating in the restaurants is the subject to restrictions but delivery and take-away are allowed. This situation will have many unpleasant consequences and will also significantly change the distribution of power in catering industry. Food delivery is the only hope for the restaurants.

Last year, take-out deliveries were responsible for 1/4 of the turnover of Polish restaurants.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the #zostajewdomu (Stayathome) social campaign, and later government decisions, restaurant revenues have fallen dramatically. The rapid implementation of online distribution channels is to be or not be for the entire gastronomy industry. The restaurants have lost the ability to receive customers overnight and are using takeaway food. Restaurants are in a very difficult situation and have to rethink their business quickly. The new reality is not a matter of two or three weeks, but probably a few months. Delivery is currently the safest form of gastronomy operation and restaurateurs today should strongly commit to promoting this ordering channel among their customers and make them aware of what security measures have been taken for them.

However, you should be aware that delivery will not save every restaurant. Some categories of gastronomy do not work well in deliveries, not all types of food are suitable for delivery and not all consumers are used to ordering. That is why systemic catering support at the governmental level is definitely needed.

For the time being, it is definitely too short to predict how much the number of orders from food delivery companies will increase. However, order times have changed and orders are more spread throughout the day.

Delivery has so far been an additional sales channel for most of the restaurants. Today, in the current situation, this is the only channel. Some of the restaurants have decided to completely suspend their activities at this time. Certainly, an increase in the number of entities cooperating with delivery companies can be expected in the near future.

Food delivery channels are increasingly introducing contactless delivery. Some restaurants also want to help Polish healthcare in this difficult situation and they use their supplies and provide staff with free meals to hospitals. The action takes place under the hashtag #gastropomaga and is joined by restaurants from all over Poland.

Source: horecatrends.pl

Online shopping sites experiencing a boom

Online shopping sites experiencing a boom, as many are switching to delivered groceries and cleaning products after social distancing measures.

Internet shopping platform shoper.pl has reported sales rising by up to 240 percent in the same period last March and 400 percent compared to February.

The boom, which has been confirmed by Chamber of E-commerce surveys, results partly from internet shopping habits spreading out from larger cities to smaller towns, according to Rzeczpospolita daily. Over 38 percent of those surveyed said they had made recent purchases online, with that number rising to over 50 percent in small towns.

Because of the surge in demand, however, web surfers have reported that delivery times have extended, sometimes to beyond a month in large stores like Carrefour ,Tesco and Frisco.

Aware of the difficulties faced by older shoppers, some traditional retailers are instituting shopping hours set aside for pensioners. Others, like the Portuguese-owned discounter Biedronka, have set up delivery systems for older shoppers, with voluntary couriers bringing large shopping bags to their homes.

Source: Poland IN

Insights in moods of Polish employers

Polish Confederation of Private Empolyers Lewiatan has conducted a survey on the effects of Coronavirus on business. Almost all of 800 companies participating in the survey (95%) feel the effects of a pandemic on their businesses and 55% already assess effects as very serious. The smaller the company, the worse the situation. Among micro companies (up to 9 employees), 63% of respondents confirmed being in a very serious situation.

In the light of the results of the study, problems with running a business correspond into the problems with keeping employees. 69% of respondents declared that they are planning to reduce employment. The worst situation is in small (71% are planning reductions) and medium-sized (80% are planning reductions). In total, 54% of the surveyed companies in the next 2 months expect to reduce 20% to 50% of their crew.

Two-thirds (68%) of the surveyed entrepreneurs declare that the lack of state aid may lead to the closure of the company. The survey shows that nearly half (47 percent) of those asked - if they don't get help - will start to slow down within 3 weeks.

Below few conclusions for Polish government:

• The faster and more accessible the well-planned forms of assistance are, the smaller the negative economic and social effects of this crisis and scale will be.
• The more companies and jobs will get help, the easier it will be to cope with getting out of this situation and returning to normal.
• Today's possibilities of action in health protection are the result of the development that has been achieved thanks to the development of the economy, if the economy is weak now and in the next few months, this will quickly effect also into limited possibilities in health protection in the future.

Source: PAP