The organic vegetable market is steadily growing in Ukraine

The organic vegetables market capacity grows annually by 10-15%. As of 2017, it was about €40 million. It was stated by Andrei Mokryakov, a leading analyst at Pro-Consulting, writes Agro-Center.

According to the expert, organic vegetables are a segment that constantly grows. Their cultivation for small farmers is not much more expensive than cultivating conventional vegetables, but their cost is much higher.

It is driven by healthy eating trend both in Ukraine and abroad. Companies who have organic license easier establish exports of their products.

Also, segments of greenhouse cucumbers and tomatoes show positive dynamics.

“Each of them has more than doubled since 2010 and continues to grow, as greenhouses provide more than one harvest per year and stretch the season for vegetable growers,” explains Mr. Andrew.

In general, there are 12 key vegetable crops in Ukraine today. These are potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, and pumpkin. Of these 12 cultures, 9 showed growth in the period 2010-2016.

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2017, Ukraine collected 8.7 million tons of open-ground vegetables and another 560 thousand tons from greenhouses. The largest amount of tomatoes (2.26 million tons), cabbage (1.6 million tons) and onions (almost 1 million tons) was collected.