Ukraine became the world champion in terms of berry export growth

Despite Russia’s military aggression, Ukrainian companies continue to expand their presence on the global berry market. Over the past five seasons, Ukraine has become the world champion in terms of berry export growth among all countries.

This was stated by Andriy Yarmak, an economist at the Investment Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), during one of the world’s largest berry forums, the Global Berry Congress, which is taking place on November 28 in Rotterdam.

According to the expert, Ukraine’s berry exports in 2018-2022 showed an average annual growth of 25%, mainly due to an increase in export shipments of frozen raspberries.

“However, blueberries have recently begun to contribute to this process, which allows Ukraine to move up in the ranking of the world’s largest berry exporters every year,” Yarmak said.

He also emphasized the huge challenges Ukraine faces in developing its berry business. In particular, according to the FAO expert, Ukraine leaves about $100 million USD to Poland, which allows the latter to maintain a leading position in the export of fresh and frozen berries, processing and re-exporting Ukrainian berries.

At the same time, Ukraine continues to sell berries at the lowest price on the market, while with some marketing efforts and minor investments in technology, given the unique agro-climatic conditions of cultivation, it could sell these products at a premium price.

“The Ukrainian berry business could definitely use this $100 million right now. This would allow Ukraine to reduce its dependence on one of the largest buyers, which has been facing serious problems lately. The additional funds that would come from diversifying exports while minimizing re-exports through Poland would also help to significantly increase the volume and quality of products, and with them Ukraine’s ratings and reputation in the berry world,” Yarmak believes.

He added that next season, Ukraine will have a serious carte blanche in the frozen raspberry market, as many countries have reduced the area under this crop, while world prices remained extremely low.

“Accordingly, the interest in raspberries in the 2024/25 season among global buyers may increase again, which will increase revenues from sales. And it would be nice to combine this with efforts to diversify exports of both raspberries and blueberries,” Yarmak emphasized.

It is worth noting that in the first half of 2023, Ukraine tripled its exports of frozen raspberries to the US market. This allowed Ukraine to enter the top ten largest suppliers of frozen raspberries to the US market for the first time, ranking 8th in the ranking of the largest exporters.

And in 2022, Ukraine managed to update the record for frozen raspberry exports despite extremely difficult working conditions, the occupation of part of the territory by the Russian army, labor shortages, expensive logistics, and regular Russian terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure.

Tags: export, barriers, Ukraine