According to EastFruit analysts, the shortage of frozen raspberries continues to grow in Europe. At the moment, buyers from France, Germany, Poland and other EU countries are actively searching for suppliers of these products outside the region.
Since stocks of high-quality raspberries in Ukraine are unusually low, and Poland continues to block the transportation of Ukrainian agricultural products through its territory, the main eyes of buyers are turned to suppliers from Serbia and Morocco. Importers are also interested in purchasing frozen raspberries from Chile, Mexico, and even from China.
Since the publication of our EU frozen raspberry market review on February 6, 2024, prices for these berries have increased by another 20-30 euro cents per kg and many do not rule out a further increase in the near future, since there is still a lot of time left before the new harvest.
“Since raspberry prices were at an extremely low level for more than a year, and its supply was huge, food manufacturers began to return this berry into their recipes. More juices, yoghurts, baked goods, confectionery and other food products with raspberries have appeared on the shelves again. As a rule, food manufacturers make such decisions at the end of the financial year, which is why we saw a sharp revival in demand for raspberries already in January 2024. Accordingly, in the upcoming season, Ukrainian raspberry producers will most likely be able to count on receiving significantly higher prices for their berries,” says Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
He also notes that a possible restriction on imports of raspberries from Ukraine to Poland will only play into Ukraine’s hands, despite the fact that many believe otherwise. “Poland retained a lion’s share of the added value from the sale of Ukrainian frozen raspberries. We can say that Ukraine was a kind of raw material appendage for large Polish companies that processed and re-exported Ukrainian raspberries to the EU countries, the USA, Canada, and Asian countries at a much higher price. Such cooperation was mutually beneficial until Ukraine had large volumes of its own raspberries available for exports. At this stage, when Ukraine already has about 50 thousand tons of frozen raspberries of its own production for exports, local producers may well take the next step up the value-added ladder by investing in their own processing, packing and marketing. This will help them increase the selling price of frozen produce, and additional funds earned will be used to expand raspberry production and further improve marketing. In fact, Poland is now pushing Ukrainian producers and processors to take this step,” says Andriy Yarmak.
Let us remember that the cyclical nature of raspberry prices is quite predictable. We described this phenomena in detail in this article dated March 17, 2023, and, as you can note, our forecasts came completely true.
According to EastFruit analysts, investments in raspberry processing and marketing in Ukraine in 2023/24 have increased sharply and were record high for the recent years, despite Russia’s ongoing military aggression. Together with rising prices on the market and the possibility of eliminating the intermediary in the form of Poland when exporting raspberries, such trends are very positive for Ukrainian farmers growing this berry.
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