According to EastFruit analysts, raspberry freezing companies in Ukraine have begun actively procuring berries from the new harvest, allowing initial insights into purchasing price levels. Depending on the region, prices range from 50 to 70 UAH/kg, equivalent to 1.0–1.4 EUR/kg. In contrast, the minimum purchasing price for raspberries in Serbia, where the season started earlier, is currently around 2.6 EUR/kg. In other words, Serbian raspberry farmers earn, on average, 2.5 times more than their Ukrainian counterparts.
Interestingly, despite this substantial price difference, Serbian producers are voicing intentions to abandon raspberry cultivation next year, citing the unprofitability of the business. However, such sentiments in Serbia tend to recur annually and should be taken with some skepticism. Ukrainian producers, on the other hand, have not expressed significant complaints about current price levels.
Read also: Ukraine’s frozen raspberry triumph: a new global leader emerges, overtaking Poland and Serbia
As we warned in our pre-season forecast, the new raspberry freezing cycle will be challenging for all stakeholders along the value chain. The significant price gap between Ukraine and Serbia could, in the long term, work against Serbia. Serbian freezing companies are already facing considerable financial difficulties. A potential collapse in global frozen raspberry prices in the new season, which is quite possible, could force many of them out of business.
It’s also worth noting that summer raspberry prices in Ukraine are not entirely indicative of the berry freezing business as a whole, as the majority of raw materials for freezing comes from remontant (everbearing) raspberries, harvested starting in late August. Given their higher quality and value for freezing, prices for remontant raspberries may be significantly higher than those for summer berries. In Serbia, the situation is the opposite – summer raspberries account for the bulk of the freezing supply.
The use of the site materials is free if there is a direct and open for search engines hyperlink to a specific publication of the East-Fruit.com website.
