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Piracicaba, 5th - With the new lockdown extension in the state of São Paulo, announced by governor João Doria on Friday, the 17th, social isolation measures will continue in the state until May 10th. Other states are also analyzing measures to restrict the movement of people until mid-May.
Therefore, schools, restaurants and small retailers - important outlets for fruit and vegetables –will keep their activities suspended and/or greatly reduced until then. Although the fruit and vegetable supply chains are still working during the period of social isolation, supermarkets and hypermarkets are the ones that have felt less the impacts of the drop in sales since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil.
For the fruit market, one of the main obstacles for some products is the closing of schools, given the high demand for school meals. This is the case for bananas and apples (mainly for the small fruit). In terms of supply, some of them may register an increase in volume in early May, pressuring prices down in relation to April.
As for vegetables, a good part of them are in crop transition period, therefore, limited demand has not significantly affected the market yet - values for producers remained quite attractive, especially for potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and onions. For lettuce, on the other hand, the drop in demand and high supply in this period is leading to leftovers in the fields and, consequently, some producers are already thinking about reducing plantings in the coming weeks.
Source: hfbrasil.org.br
