Poor vegetable harvests in Europe are boosting demand for Lithuanian produce. Local farmers have already started exporting carrots and potatoes to Latvia, Estonia and further afield.
Saulius Zakas, a farmer from the northern Joniškis District, says this year’s vegetable harvest is not great. Summer rains have resulted in the loss of between a third and half of the potential yields. The worst-affected crops are cabbage, likely to be in short supply in spring.
The farmer normally sells most of his produce in northern Lithuania, but this year he has already shipped some abroad. Mostly potatoes.
“We have just shipped two trucks to Ukraine this week. Just yesterday I got a call from Serbia, and we spoke to Moldova a couple of weeks ago. The demand is there,” Zakas tells LRT TV.
The Šateika family vegetable farm in Šiauliai District has been busier than ever in recent weeks. The farmers are packing carrots for foreign markets. Shipments to Latvia and Estonia started earlier this year than usual.
“Latvia ran out of carrots very early, Estonia too. [...] So we started shipping carrots to Latvia a month ago, which we used to do only in mid to late December or even after the New Year,” says the farmer Julius Šateika.
Shortages of vegetables in Europe are pushing up prices. Egyptian produce is stepping in. Some of Lithuania’s biggest growers say that onion yields were particularly low this year, which means that the EU may be importing them from third countries.
“Third-country players may come in, as they did last year with onions. Europe was importing a lot of onions from Uzbekistan, from Afghanistan,” says Šateika.
Some farms do not have storage facilities, so they try to sell as many vegetables as possible in autumn. Some have already shipped about half of their production abroad.
“Lithuanian vegetables are known in Europe for their quality, so exports of high-quality vegetables are steadily increasing. [...] Lithuanian vegetables go to almost all of Europe, Italy, Belgium, Germany, and of course Latvia, Estonia and Poland,” says Indrė Lukoševičienė, head of the Vegetable Growers Association.
The Association says that the quality of vegetables has suffered considerably this year due to natural conditions. Lithuania may run out of quality potatoes, onions, and cabbages earlier than usual.
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