May 8 2015, 09:22 Fito-Mag

Consumption of fresh apples up by 45% in Ukraine over past 5 years

Ukrainians have raised consumption of fresh apples by 45% over the past 5 years.

The Ukrainian apple market analysts assess a regular Ukrainian to consume about 16 kg of apples per year against just slightly more than 9 kg per year in 2010. It should also be noted that apple consumption in Ukraine is now just 15% lower than in the EU against being about 50% lower in 2010.

Positive trend in apple consumption in Ukraine has been registered thanks to promotion of healthy lifestyles and growth in the internal production of apples in the country. Ukraine has been steadily increasing its apple production, which has resulted in a regular annual average decrease of 7% in prices up to 2015. However, apple prices have grown in the outgoing season thanks to high demand for apples in Russia and a sharp increase in prices of imported produce. At the same time, the price growth has negatively affected consumption in the second half of the current season; while consumption level during apple harvesting was higher year-on-year due to larger supply of domestic produce.