January 27 2011, 15:59 Fruit-Inform

Ukraine will regain the status of vegetable exporter in the new season

According to Fruit-Inform Project's forecasts, Ukraine will regain the status of net vegetable exporter in the season 2011/12, the status which was lost in the current season due to unfavorable weather conditions.

“It was heavy raining in southern regions of Ukraine almost every day during May-June that turned many onion, tomato and cucumber fields into lakes. Produce, survived from excess moisture, was finished off by heat in July-August, when soil temperature was exceeding 50 degrees Celsius and irrigation could do nothing with that”, Andriy Yarmak, head of Fruit-Inform Project, tells. Western regions were also suffering from heavy rains, and northern and central regions – from drought and heat.

“Ukraine experienced considerable increase of areas under potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbages, and other vegetables. Level of use of high-quality seeds was the highest for all modern history of Ukraine. Therefore, it is a pity that weather conditions left no chances to produce record-breaking volumes (as it was expected before), as well as even produce volumes sufficient to secure proper domestic supply within the whole year”, A. Yarmak continues.

Preliminary fruit and vegetable production and price forecast conducted by analysts of Fruit-Inform Project will be updated by the beginning of the third international conference “Potato and Vegetables of Ukraine-2011”. Preliminary results of this fundamental study show that Ukraine will regain the status of net vegetable exporter in the new season.

The conference will take place at Shuvar wholesale market, Lvov, Ukraine, February 24-25, 2011. This event will gather leading potato and vegetable producers of Ukraine, as well as wholesale trade representatives, suppliers of seeds, material and technical resources, machinery and equipment for potato and vegetable growing, storage, and post harvest handling.

“Ukraine has been actively developing its commercial vegetable production during the last decade and already has serious achievements in this area. Development of onion production under drip irrigation system in Ukraine leads to annual decrease of onion production in Poland, which can not stand competition from the side of Ukraine. Besides this, Ukraine has already entered the group of three major suppliers of greenhouse tomatoes to Russian market, though being net exporter of this produce since already 5 years ago. Now Ukraine is already conducting first negotiations concerning possibilities to export potatoes systematically. So we hope that the conference held in Lvov, February 24-25, will be another push for development of such business, as it is an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences, gain new knowledge and ideas, and also assess market prospects”, Andriy Yarmak tells.