Ukraine’s 2026 sweet cherry season turned out to be much better than expected in terms of crop volumes, but far more difficult for producers because of low wholesale prices and the high cost of manual harvesting. With a good harvest reported across nearly all producing regions, farm-gate prices fell to UAH 40–60 per kilogram, several times lower than last year, EastFruit notes.
Taras Bashtannyk, President of the Ukrainian Horticultural Association (UHA), discussed the season’s main results, the changing geography of sweet cherry production and the industry’s future prospects in an interview with SEEDS.
The harvest exceeded spring expectations
At the beginning of spring, market participants feared substantial losses caused by frost and other weather anomalies. Reports from several regions suggested that orchards had been damaged and that supply could decline considerably.
However, by the peak of the season, the situation looked very different.
“Sweet cherries are producing very good yields this year. Therefore, the season can be described as high-yielding, but characterised by low prices,” Taras Bashtannyk said.
According to him, the season had not yet finished by the end of June and was expected to continue for at least another seven to ten days. Nevertheless, the main market trends were already clear.
The biggest surprise was the price. Due to abundant supply in almost all major production regions, farm-gate prices fell to UAH 40–60 per kilogram.
“This year’s sweet cherry price is much lower than growers expected. For consumers, however, this is good news. The reason is simple: almost every region has a good harvest,” the UHA President explained.
Low prices do not mean low production costs
Ukrainian consumers traditionally perceive sweet cherries as one of the most expensive seasonal fruits. In 2026, however, sweet cherry prices were comparable to those of strawberries and lower than prices for raspberries and blueberries.
For growers, however, the decline in prices did not improve the situation. On the contrary, it significantly weakened the economics of the season.
Producing high-quality, large-calibre sweet cherries requires substantial investment in crop protection, irrigation, pruning, nutrition, cooling, sorting, packaging and logistics. In addition, sweet cherries remain a crop harvested entirely by hand.
“Premium, large and high-quality sweet cherries are expensive all over the world. They have to be expensive because their production costs and the complexity of cultivation are very high,” Taras Bashtannyk stressed.
In his assessment, sweet cherry production theoretically remains profitable, but in the 2026 season, the combination of low purchasing prices and rising production costs prevented most growers from achieving the financial result they had expected.
“At this year’s prices, combined with increasing production costs, sweet cherries did not generate anything close to the profit Ukrainian producers had anticipated,” he said.
Harvesting can absorb one-third of the selling price
Manual harvesting remains one of the largest cost items in sweet cherry production.
According to the UHA President, harvesting costs in Ukraine can reach UAH 20 per kilogram. With selling prices of UAH 40–60 per kilogram, harvesting labour alone may account for approximately one-third of the product’s value and, in some cases, up to half of its production cost.
On average, sweet cherry pickers earn UAH 1,200–1,400 per day. Some farms pay workers per kilogram harvested, while others use an hourly rate of up to UAH 200.
Under these conditions, farms without sufficient labour, effective cooling infrastructure and fast sales channels risk losing a significant part of their margin even when yields are high.
Speed is particularly important for sweet cherries. The fruit has a limited shelf life, rapidly loses its marketable appearance and requires immediate cooling after harvest.
Chernivtsi region is emerging as a new production centre
Despite the difficult economics of the current season, new sweet cherry orchards continue to be established in Ukraine, although the process is not yet taking place on a mass scale.
The most active development is taking place in Chernivtsi region, which is gradually forming its own specialisation in sweet cherry production.
This is particularly important following the loss of access to Melitopol, Ukraine’s traditional sweet cherry production centre, which remains under Russian occupation.
“Sokyriany is now actively competing for Melitopol’s role. The climate of the former Sokyriany district in Chernivtsi region differs from that of Melitopol, but I do not consider this a critical issue,” Taras Bashtannyk said.
In his view, the region could eventually develop its own school of sweet cherry production, focused not only on growing fruit but also on post-harvest handling.
“Growers there will learn to work even better with cooling, grading, quality and exports. Once Melitopol is returned, Ukraine will have two sweet cherry capitals,” the UHA President noted.
The next stage of competition will be about quality, not yield
The 2026 season demonstrated that a high yield does not automatically guarantee strong profitability.
When the market is well supplied, the advantage belongs to farms capable of offering consistently large, uniform, properly cooled and well-packed sweet cherries. These characteristics are essential for working with supermarket chains, premium market segments and export buyers.
For the Ukrainian sweet cherry sector to develop further, growers will need to invest not only in expanding orchard areas but also in large-calibre varieties, rain and hail protection systems, rapid pre-cooling, sorting and packaging.
Without these elements, even a good harvest can shift from being an advantage to becoming a source of downward pressure on prices.
The 2026 season is a clear example: Ukraine harvested a large volume of sweet cherries, consumers benefited from more affordable prices, but for many producers, the financial result was much weaker than expected.
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