Blue poppy seeds: no offers despite good crop forecasts

May 13, 2020 at 2:27 PM , Der AUDITOR
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CHRUDIM. The evaluation of the blue poppy fields in the Czech Republic has put the market players in a positive mood. Nevertheless, farmers are very cautious with prices for the new crop.

Nothing has been settled yet

For two years in a row, the Czech blue poppy seed crop had turned out worse than expected after unfavourable weather conditions had caused considerable damage. For this reason, both traders and farmers are currently holding back with offers for the new crop.

The condition of the fields is currently good. Market players have seen the development of the plants on site and report that the lush rainfall of the past few days, mixed with sufficient hours of sunshine, has been a blessing for the plants. However, it looked similar in May 2019, until the dry June weather put a damper on the farmers' plans. Since an estimated 40,000 ha were sown, the blue poppy seed market can ideally look forward to a good crop (29,000-34,000 metric tonnes) this year. If the weather does not play along in the coming weeks, an average crop (21,000-26,000 metric tonnes) should still be possible. Meanwhile, spot prices for blue poppy seeds, <10 ppm morphine, from the 2019 crop have settled at a level of EUR 2.77 per kg DDP Germany.

Blue poppy seeds

Type

Price

Czech Republic, <10 ppm morphine, DDP DE

EUR 2.77/kg

Turkey, <20 ppm morphine, CFR Hamburg

USD 3.35 /kg

Trade sources

Exports rise by almost 30%

Despite fewer enquiries on the spot market, the export volume continues to grow compared to last year. By the end of March, 15,358 metric tonnes of poppy seeds had been shipped overseas from the Czech Republic. Russia is by far the most important customer for Czech poppy seeds this season, followed by Austria and Poland. Slovakia and Germany also increased their imports by 10.6% and 18.3% respectively.

Poppy seed exports* Czech Republic, in mt

Country

2018/19

2019/20

Diff.

Russia

2,529

4,360

72.4%

Austria

3,001

3,717

23.9%

Poland

1,486

1,687

13.5%

Slovakia

1,227

1,357

10.6%

Germany

1,057

1,251

18.3%

Hungary

316

738

133.0%

Netherlands

437

629

43.8%

India

0

413

-

Romania

274

302

10.1%

Ukraine

579

266

-54.1%

Others

1.023

639

-37.5%

Total

11,930

15,358

28.7%

Source: Czech Statistical Office / Aug-Mar

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