March 28 2019, 14:25 Fruit-Inform

Ukraine ranked third in world in terms of growth rates blueberry exports

Ukraine is the third largest exporter of blueberry in the world now, second only to Peru and Portugal. The representative of the Dutch Rabobank Cindy van Rijswick announced about it during the Global Berry Congress in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The congress was organized by Fruitnet, which also serves as the partner of the largest berry conference in Ukraine - “Berries of Ukraine-2019: Freezing and Fresh Market” on May 21-22, 2019 in Kiev, as EastFruit reports.

Rabobank estimates the growth rates of blueberry exports from Ukraine by 60% per year, but notes that total exports remain small, significantly lower than the world leaders such as Chile, Peru and Spain. At the same event Mr. Andriy Yarmak, Economist at FAO Investment Center voiced his forecasts. “We predict that in five years Ukraine will be able to export about 20,000 tons of blueberries, mostly fresh. According to this indicator Ukraine will be equal to Poland, which is now the second largest producer of blueberries in Europe after Spain. However, berry producers need to be more actively involved in the process of improving product quality in order to achieve such an indicator, because in Ukraine only five farmers have Global G.A.P. However, producers face many problems even with compliance with these basic conditions”, the expert noted.
Mr. Andriy Yarmak stated insufficient efforts to diversify exports. “The focus on exports to the EU is a good solution, since the EU is next to us. Moreover, the distance from Lutsk to Berlin is less than 1,000 km, while the distance from key production regions in Spain to Berlin is about 3,000 km. However, you need to understand that there are markets where in our production season you can get a higher price for blueberries, and such markets include the Middle East and Southeast Asia. At the same time, unfortunately Ukraine has so far made insufficient efforts to promote exports even in Europe”, the expert said.