Cheap prices but fewer customers at fruit market

By Maria Gregoriou
CYPRIOT consumers have traditionally supported local produce because it has a better taste and is fresher, but with the economic crisis settling in, their purchasing patterns are changing.
The debate between buying Cypriot produce and imported goods has come under the spotlight this week with the launch of a campaign by farming organisations to encourage people to buy local produce.
The OXI open market in Nicosia, held every Wednesday and Saturday, is well known for selling cheap produce straight from the growers themselves. Although some claim the prices are 10 times cheaper than similar imports and prices at the supermarkets this week it seemed a little slow, perhaps because people are seeking convenient shopping, and a trip into the centre of Nicosia just for fruit and veg, no matter how cheap, is not that to great swathes of the population.
But a browse of what was available did confirm that prices remain low. Cyprus tomatoes were being sold at €2 a kilo and cucumbers at €2.50. In a nearby supermarket the same items were both available for €2.99.
Although the municipality parking place where the market is set up was full of farmers and merchants actual shoppers, who were mainly retirees, were scarce.
“Our sales have been reduced by 50 per cent this year and this means that all farmers and produce sellers are most likely to break even. People always prefer to buy Cypriot goods but they buy less quantity now,” produce seller Evangelos Sophocleous said.
One of his customers showed the agricultural organisations’ campaign is being heard. “A lot of money is leaving the country and people no longer trust the banks or want to invest. By buying local fruit and vegetables we are supporting local farmers and keeping our money circulating in society.
“I find that prices are stable and only during seasons when produce is not grown in Cyprus, will prices be a little more expensive,” retired consumer Andreas Iacovou, 75, said.
His patriotism was echoed by other elderly shoppers. “We have to support Cypriot produce and be aware of that coming in from Turkey. Some merchants try to sell off this produce as Cypriot goods but you can tell the difference, Cypriot produce is better because of our climate,” an 88 year old man, who was reluctant to give his name said.
“I only buy Cypriot products because I fought for our independence and I would rather go without than buy imported goods,” he said.
Andreas Stylianou, who has been selling his produce at the market since 1999, and stood behind a mound of green peppers said that red and yellow ones are not grown here. “Only green peppers are grown here. They may not look as attractive as those from abroad but they are much tastier,” he said.
In addition to falling numbers at the market those that do go are spending less.
“People come here and pay with change, it is as if they have opened their money box to get the money to pay us,” stall vendor Christos Hadjikyprianou, 50, said.
He said a housewife with a four member family will buy four tomatoes, for example.
“A housewife will buy exactly the number of cucumbers or tomatoes she thinks her household needs for now and only when these run out will she come back for more,” he added.
Retired housewife Fidi Adamantiou said she buys produce for all her family.
“Lately we do watch what we buy and we always buy Cypriot products if they are in season, but even if imported goods are a bit cheaper, I will still go for the Cypriot products.
“We have learnt to spend our money on food and not really count the pennies. This is how my generation has learnt to react, it is the next generation that may have to change the Cypriot way of thinking when it comes to spending,” Adamantiou said.