May 11 2005, 09:12 Agrarian Marketing Project

Berry production in Ukraine in 2005 may increase

The surveys of Agricultural Marketing Project witness about a fairly good perspectives for berry production in Ukraine in 2005. According to the preliminary data, the production of the main berry crops (strawberry, raspberry, currant and table grape) may increase on 10-15% comparing to the previous year.

The growth of berry production will be possible, first of all, due to the increase of the production rates for table grape and strawberry. The table grape production growth is the consequence of acreage extension, which started past year, and the possibility to get the significantly higher yield. We'd remind that past year the table grape yield was low cause this crop suffered much during the April frosts in Crimea. Besides, the quality of table grape of past year harvest was rather low too.

The increase of strawberry production can be achieved due to the growing interest from the side of farmers to the production of this very profitable crop. So, the acreage of the production lands may increase on 3-5% and reach the top record for the recent years. The average yield should increase too, cause this year the climatic conditions have been more favorable for this crop. The sum of these factors may support the growth of strawberry production on 15-20% in 2005 and lead to some decrease of the average prices on this commodity comparing to 2004.

The raspberry production may be shortened a little despite of the planned acreage extension; still the demand on this commodity is steadily growing from year to year. It is rather unlikely that such a high yield observed in the previous year will be achieved this year. The currant production has been constantly increasing for the recent three years, and most probably will go on growing. The growth rate may be about 5-10% comparing to 2004, however, the demand on this commodity will still be over the supply, to the opinion of the analysts of Agricultural Marketing Project.