Cherry jelly. A manufacturer is scolded for giving them too cheaply. “You treated them with gold dust and diamonds?!”

Cherries, which year after year bring handsome profit to traders, have now reached affordable prices. A manufacturer who announced that he was selling them at a good price to the end buyer was heavily criticized by other traders on the grounds that he was spoiling the market.

From prices between 100 and 250 lei/kg in the wholesale markets, as traders say the first cherries of this year would have been sold, producers who have large quantities for sale ended up selling for 20 lei/kg. A farmer who announced, on the second day of Easter, that he was going to sell cherries in the market of Topoloveni, Argeș county, at a price of 20 lei/kg, was however harshly criticized by other traders.

The adversarial discussions took place on a group on a social network. The group has almost 50,000 members and dozens and even hundreds of ads are posted here daily.

“Ask for at least 35 per kilo. The ones from Greece still sell for 60-70-80. Don’t make fun of yourself and your work!”, another member of the group advises the author of the ad.
“I have a lot and I don’t finish it”, the farmer explains his decision.

The members of the group keep questioning him and thus find out that he has 60 cherries, of three varieties, so the production is also up to par.

Prices between 15 and 35 lei/kg at the stall, in Slatina PHOTO: AM

“It depends on the price. You definitely sell them. At least in the beginning it depends on the price. Put 30-35 lei/kilogram”, the other traders keep trying to convince him. The producer confesses that he tried, three days before Easter, to sell for 30 lei/kg, but he didn’t have any sales. “I didn’t jump 40 kilos a day”the farmer comes with the reply.

“But how much work does he do on them? That he collects them from the tree. Why don’t you ask for 100 per kilo, let them keep them, maybe you’ll buy them, rich man!”another member of the group chimes in, angry that so many of the traders coming into the discussion are thinking too much about their bottom line.

“Better fruits than cigarettes”
someone else intervenes to put an end to the mess, but the dispute continues, mentioning as an argument for the high price including the fact that the farmer pays 5 lei/kg for cherry picking.

“Let the man sell them as he thinks best, to think about others who may not be able to afford even half a kilo, and to pray to God for good fruit in the year as well. Don’t pay any attention if you have such a big heart!”, the group member who insists that the manufacturer keep the price high is finally scolded. “Don’t pay any attention to yourself! I also have for sale and that’s why I tell him to keep the price. Have a good evening and a lot of thinking power!”, the one who insists on a high price is not a loser.

“Do we retirees even get a chance to taste them this year?”

A week before Easter, on the same group with ads for the sale of wholesale products, cherries were sold for 60 lei/kg to those who bought them to sell them on in the markets. And this price was considered low by the traders and obviously very high by those who ended up buying from the stall.

Cherries were sold in the markets, at the beginning of the season, and at frightening prices PHOTO: Fb

“You are crazy to tie. You’ve gone crazy, you’ve inflated the price like import ones. But what did you do to them?! Have you treated them with gold dust mixed with diamonds? Fuck you, you’re too stingy with money! Do we, the pensioners, have the opportunity to at least taste them this year?”, a member of the group intervened with a comment, accusing, at the same time, that the representatives of the state institutions “they shook hands with speculators”otherwise there are no explanations for the fact that they do not intervene to bring order to the market.

The cheapness of the last few days is also felt at the stalls in the markets. In the largest market in Slatina, Olt county, cherries are priced between 15 lei and 35 lei/kg, depending on the variety and origin. For buyers who still think the price is high, there are other offers. For example, four bundles of four to five cherries are sold for 5 lei each.