Ukraine is increasing the production and export of berries

The production and export of berries in Ukraine are gradually increasing – 130 thousand tons were produced in the last three years. In 2016 exports increased to 44.7 tons of berries compared to 21.5 thousand tons in 2014. Frozen blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and cranberries dominate in export structure.

The export geography has also changed. Today Ukraine supplies berries not only to EU markets as it did before but also to the Middle East and OAU. The biggest obstacle on the way to rising sales in the EU trading network is the high cost of a Global Gap certificate that allows to export fresh produce.

The berry business is a promising and investment-attractive segment in the agrarian sector due to high marginality, growing demand from domestic and foreign markets, climatic conditions and healthy eating trends. There are about 25 thousand hectares of berry plantations in Ukraine, with the specialized farms accounting for no more than 15 thousand hectares. The rest are households. Almost half of all plantings are strawberries.

This year, due to weather conditions, a large part of the harvest had been lost, so the prices of berries became higher. First of all, this affected strawberries. Due to the poor harvest of blueberries, the price grew 2.5-3 times compared to last year. Blueberries have one of the most stable prices among berries in Ukraine. Retail prices range from 250 to 300 UAH per kg.