The Czech Republic imported 4.7 million euros worth of garlic in the first five months of 2019, mostly from Spain and China, following the decline in the national harvest in 2018, affected by hail storms and high temperatures in the country.

However, this years garlic season has already begun and it is estimated that its volume will be greater than last years, despite the fact that the drought has caused the heads of garlic to be smaller and an increase in the price of this product will be inevitable.

The climatic conditions together with the cost of the labour force involved in harvesting garlic by hand means that Czech garlic cannot easily compete with imported garlic.

According to the Czech Statistical Office, last summer a kilo of garlic cost on average about 4.2 euros, while at the moment it has already reached 4.5 euros. But it is not uncommon to see even higher prices, despite the fact that the area devoted to garlic cultivation has been growing recently.