Growing Chinese cabbage in Poland
Chinese cabbage is a relatively young crop for the Polish agricultural sector, but its production volumes are increasing every year. Today, more than 4.5 thousand hectares of land are used for the cultivation of Chinese cabbage for further sale.
Chinese cabbage has a short growing season, only 2-3 months, from seedling to industrial ripeness. In terms of the conditions of the Polish climate, the harvest is gathered several times a year: the first harvest takes place in May, the last one — in October-November. The yield is in the range from 60 to 100 tons per hectare, depending on weather conditions; in a favorable season, with timely fertilizing and watering, it can be up to 130 tons per hectare. With consistently high purchase prices and constant demand, farmers receive several times more profit than when growing cabbage.
Storage conditions and transportation
Chinese cabbage is good for long-distance transportation and is suitable for long-term storage. It can be stored in warehouses at a temperature of 0-+1°С with a humidity of 95% for 4-5 months and in a controlled atmosphere storage room (CO2: 1-2. 5%, O2: 1-3%) — up to 6-7 months.
To better preserve the marketable appearance and reduce shrinkage as a result of drying of cabbage heads, Chinese cabbage is packed in a simple or perforated plastic film before storage or transportation. Cardboard or wooden boxes are used for transportation.
In a retail store, heads are stored in refrigerators, with the exception of a small amount of goods displayed in the produce section of the store.
Chinese cabbage in the assortment of stores
You can buy Chinese cabbage in any store — from big supermarkets to small shops in residential areas. Juicy and crispy leaves with good taste qualities contain a large amount of vitamins and minerals, so Chinese cabbage is in regular demand among different categories of customers. Following the popularization of a healthy lifestyle and eating, retail sales of vegetables are growing annually. An increasing number of end-users are buying Chinese cabbage instead of traditional cabbage.
In retail, the most popular types include heads from 0.7 to 1.2 kg, while larger heads are bought less often, as people prefer to use the product fresh, avoiding its long-term storage in the refrigerator.
Many customers use Chinese cabbage as an alternative to expensive salad greens, because it is available for buying at any time of the year. The demand for cabbage increases in the winter season, when sales of seasonal tomatoes and cucumbers are over, and only expensive greenhouse varieties are available.
Most retail stores traditionally sell green Chinese cabbage, but large retailers with a wide assortment additionally buy and sell red cabbage varieties with beautiful purple leaves and good taste qualities.
FRUITLINE SP. Z O.O. sells Chinese cabbage in large bulk all year round. Strict observance of storage conditions and manual sorting of heads, when consolidating the order, guarantee high quality of products in batches of any size. Our managers are always ready to discuss individual contract terms and flexible pricing.
