April 5 2012, 12:24 Fruit-Inform

Russian frozen blueberry exports highest in past 5 years

In the season 2011/12, Russia has all chances to export record-breaking volumes of frozen blueberries in the past 5 years. From July 2011 to February 2012, Russian enterprises dealing with procurement and freezing of blueberries and other berries exported more than 5,000 tonnes of frozen blueberries. That is averagely 6 times as high as in the same period of the previous season. Main volumes (up to 65%) were traditionally exported in August and September 2011 with Lithuania, Finland and Sweden being the major target markets for Russian blueberries.

“Russian companies managed to increase their exports mainly thanks to a sharp jump in blueberry prices in Scandinavian countries. Prices in Russia grew year-on-year too. Nevertheless, even taking that factor into account, Russian blueberries' competitive strength increased significantly in the European market, and Russian companies stood a good chance to increase exports”, Mr. Aleksandr Samokhvalov, Managing Director of Yagody Karelii, one of the biggest operators in the Russian and European markets for fresh-frozen berries, was quoted as saying.

According to Fruit-Inform, the last time when Russia set a record in frozen blueberry exports was the season 2006/07 when the country exported almost 11,000 tonnes.

We would remind you that Mr. Samokhvalov will speak on the Russian fresh and frozen berry market and its development prospects at the 3rd International Conference “Berries of Ukraine – 2012: Frozen Produce & Fresh Market”. The conference will be held at Stolychnyi Agricultural Center, Kiev, Ukraine, May 24-25, 2012.

Regarding participation in the conference, please, contact International Relations Department of Fruit-Inform:

Mr. Ievgen Kuzin

phone: +380 (562) 321595, ext. - 341

cell: +380 96 5836323

email: [email protected].