Finnish strawberry prices soar due to summer shortage, shocks customers at Helsinki market square
The sun is shining brightly and tourists are bustling among the stalls at Helsinki’s market square. It’s summer, and berry sellers are offering free samples to customers. The fresh, playful taste of the sample dances across the tongue. Finnish strawberries sure taste good. However, the momentary euphoria brought on by the tasting quickly subsides when attention is drawn to the prices displayed at the stall.
At the Helsinki market square, a smaller, approximately 500-gram box can be purchased for 5 euros, and depending on the stall, a liter can cost between 8-8.5 euros. Even in the scorching sun, these prices can send a chill. Prices for Finnish strawberries have skyrocketed in July in Southern Finland.
Abdulkadir Ozkahveci, a strawberry vendor at the market, explains that he had to resort to stocking Belgian strawberries as a backup due to the scarcity of the Finnish harvest. According to Ozkahveci, July is typically the cheapest month for strawberries.
“There is a shortage of strawberries, the price is high. People complain that we, the market vendors, are greedy, but no, the price is genuinely high at the wholesale level,” says Ozkahveci.
Ozkahveci admits that he constantly receives complaints about the prices. Normally, a liter would cost around 5-6 euros in July, significantly less. Just last week, the price per liter was 7 euros.
A five-kilo box of strawberries now costs a whopping 65 euros, but Ozkahveci doesn’t even want to sell those, so as not to run out of strawberries.
“Usually in July, there is an abundance of strawberries. Now there really isn’t,” he explains.
The strawberry shortage in July is due to a very warm late spring, which brought the harvest forward, and a rather dry summer.
Customers at the market have taken note of the high prices. Tarja Kahiluoto, who just bought a liter of strawberries, is surprised at the price level of her favorite treat.
“A liter costs 8.5 euros, it’s a shocking price,” says Kahiluoto.
Tomi Pudas, who came to shop at the market with his children Kaius and Kaarlo, does not yet find the price per liter of 8.5 euros too high.
“It’s important for me that the strawberries are Finnish, even though the price is slightly higher than a normal summer. However, I wouldn’t want to see much more of a rise in the price,” he states.
Erkki Nissinen also notes the price increase of the market delicacies. He prefers to leave the market with Finnish strawberries rather than Belgian ones.
“They (Finnish ones) are quite expensive, but they are worth paying for because they are much tastier,” Nissinen adds.