A kilogram of cucumbers cost €1.09 at Mercator in Slovenia in June. By February, the same kilogram was €3.49. The harvest calendar is still writing the price list.
What the data shows
Sivix tracked cucumber prices across 11 Mercator Online store listings in Slovenia from June 2025 to March 2026. The seasonal arc is unambiguous.
| Month | Cucumber — avg price per kg |
|---|---|
| Jun 2025 | €1.09 |
| Nov 2025 | €2.27 |
| Feb 2026 | €3.49 |
Harvest low vs winter peak — selected crops (€/kg)
Source: Sivix Slovenia, May 2025 – Mar 2026
By February, when local supply is exhausted and every cucumber on the shelf has travelled from Spain or Morocco, the price had risen 220% from the June low. March brought the first signs of recovery — prices fell back to €2.29 — but summer is a long way off.
Zucchini followed the same curve. Cheap through the summer harvest (€1.24/kg in September), climbing steadily through autumn, peaking at €3.49/kg in February — a 181% increase from the harvest low.
Red cabbage runs the opposite direction. It costs €2.19/kg in July and hits its cheapest point in November — €0.89/kg — when the autumn harvest floods the shelves. A seasonal drop of 59% in four months.
This data covers Slovenia only. Sivix has continuous year-round price coverage for SI from May 2025; other markets joined the database in late 2025 and cannot yet support seasonal analysis.
Why this happens
Fresh produce prices are set by supply, and supply is set by the growing season. When local cucumbers are in full harvest in June, prices fall. In winter, the same cucumbers have to travel from Spain, Morocco, or the Netherlands — longer supply chains mean higher costs, and those costs land on the shelf.
Autumn-harvest crops tell the mirror story. Red cabbage stores well. When the November harvest comes in, there is suddenly a lot of it, prices drop, and they stay low through winter as farmers work through stored supply. By summer, stored stocks are gone and the new harvest has not yet arrived.
What it means for you
If you cook with cucumbers or courgettes regularly, summer is when to use them most — and February is when a seasonal substitute will serve you better and cost half as much. Red cabbage, leeks, and root vegetables hit their cheapest exactly when summer produce is at its most expensive.
The seasonal price gap for fresh produce is not marginal. It is 2–3×. Timing your vegetable shopping to the harvest calendar is one of the most straightforward ways to cut a grocery bill without changing what you eat.
Data source: Based on 248,888 SI price records collected by Sivix users in Slovenia, May 2025 – March 2026. Seasonal produce analysis uses products with 6+ months of price history. Cucumber series: 11 Mercator Online store listings, 10 months. All prices reflect online/delivery pricing at the time of purchase.