In mid-June, the farmers' association Farmers' Saeima raised the alarm that demand for local fruit and vegetables in Latvia has fallen by an average of 30% this year and that warehouses are stocked with large quantities of Latvian-grown cucumbers and tomatoes, as supermarket chains prefer to offer imported products to shoppers.
Mārtiņš Trons, a board member of Farmers' Saeima, said at the time that one of the Ministry of Finance's arguments for increasing the value-added tax (VAT) rate on Latvian fruit, vegetables, and berries from 5% to 12% was to limit the influx of imported produce. However, as the season "got underway", it was clear that this objective had not been justified and the opposite had happened.
"It is clear that the country's economic situation also affects buyers' habits. Shoppers in supermarket chains tend to opt for the cheapest product, which, given the increase in VAT, often turns out to be a product imported from Poland, Spain or third countries. The misfortune with retail chains is that, according to the information we have, local products are heavily marked up," said Trons.
Meanwhile, representatives of Rimi and Maxima supermarkets say that the new season is now gathering pace and that more and more products grown by local farmers are appearing in their shops.
"Vegetable suppliers from abroad are only brought in when the harvest season has not yet started for domestic growers, when they are not available, or when the season is over. At the moment, there are about 50 items from domestic growers and the season is just starting, with more purchases from domestic farmers every week. Local carrots, beetroots, and cauliflowers are coming in. Potatoes are also local and more will be available in a week [..]," says Inese Pētersone, Director of Category Department at Rimi Latvia, about the choice of suppliers.
She points out that when choosing suppliers, preference is always given to local ones, on condition that the price is the same, because customers want local products, but this also shortens the delivery route from the producer to the table.
Liene Dupate-Ugule of Maxima, on the other hand, says that the proportion of local vegetables in their assortment is around 50% and that the supply of local vegetables increases towards autumn.
"We choose local producers as much as possible if we know what our customers like, and localness is one of the reasons or criteria we use to evaluate existing and future partners. To highlight the local producer, products are marked with a local flag," she continues.
Dana Hasana, Head of Corporate Communications at Lidl Latvija, also mentions the price-quality relationship as an important factor. The share of local suppliers is increasing and now exceeds 60%.
"We are trying to supply more and more local products, now seasonally cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli. Maybe there will be local gooseberries. We also had local strawberries. We have the same requirements, whether it's a local selling blueberries or whether it's imported berries. This is probably the future of Europe - meeting the same requirements," said Hassan.
Imports of fresh cucumbers reached a historic high last year, worth almost €16 million, according to the Central Statistical Bureau. The most cucumbers were imported from Poland, worth €2.4 million, followed by Spain, Lithuania and Finland in fourth place with more than €1 million worth of fresh cucumbers. At the same time, we exported fresh cucumbers to three countries, and most of all to Estonia, for €2.7 million.
Tomato imports also reached a record level last year, with €44 million, mainly from the Netherlands, Spain, France, Turkey, Poland, Germany and Lithuania. Exports of tomatoes were also at a record high of €17 million, mainly to Estonia and Lithuania. According to the data, most of the imported vegetables are destined for the domestic market and end up in markets and shops.
