Four denars a kilo. That is what Prespa fruit growers are being offered today for industrial apples, at the exact moment the harvest begins. Last year it was nine, and then the price climbed to eleven.

It costs about ten denars a kilo to grow them. Every kilo they hand over at today's price loses them money.

The numbers, in order

Sound table-variety apples are being bought today for 20 to 25 denars, against 35 to 40 last year. For the "ajdaret" variety the opening price is minimal - just 15 denars a kilo.

Then there is the pickers' daily rate. Last year it was between 2,500 and 2,700 denars per picker. This year everyone is asking 3,000 denars, plus food and transport. Pickers come from Prilep and Bitola, but there are fewer and fewer of them.

"The benchmark for the table apple price is the industrial apple price, and a single-digit price should under no circumstances be up for discussion," says Prespa grower Kire Gulevski, who adds that much of Prespa was scorched by frost and that there are no apples in large quantities this year.

Less fruit, lower price

This is the part that fits no economic logic at all. When the crop is weaker, the price usually goes up. Here it halves.

The growers also list what they have not been paid: two denars for the 2024 crop, two denars for apples produced in 2025, rural development subsidies, funds for registered farmer status.

"Prespa has no future - where are the associations and the agricultural cooperatives to deal with the farmers," growers are writing on social media.

The demand and the response

The Liberal Democratic Party issued a statement calling for the purchase price of industrial apples to be at least 12 denars a kilo. On top of the current four denars comes a two-denar subsidy - six in total, against a production cost of around ten.

"A farmer cannot keep delivering below the cost of production. If the state wants to keep agricultural production going, it will have to provide predictable and sustainable conditions for producers," the party says, and it is also announcing legislation for organised purchasing of strategic agricultural crops - tobacco, grapes, rice, peppers and apples.

Agriculture Minister Borče Serafimovski was in Resen for separate meetings with farmers and with buyers. According to his post, the talks covered expected volumes, crop quality, available purchasing capacity and sales opportunities on the domestic, regional and EU markets.

"Successful placement requires a coordinated approach and shared responsibility from everyone in the chain," Serafimovski said, also pointing to the need to modernise production and adapt to climate change.

A coordinated approach to what

Modernisation and climate adaptation are real tasks. They are just not tasks that get solved this week, and the harvest is this week.

When a farmer who produces at ten denars sits at a table with a buyer offering four, "shared responsibility" is a polite way of saying the state will watch them negotiate. The difference is that one side can wait, and the other has apples falling off the trees.