Market analysts from EastFruit have highlighted Ukraine’s impressive growth within the international frozen raspberry market. Over the past year, Ukraine has ascended to the top five largest exporters of frozen raspberries to the United States, outperforming all other non-American suppliers, with the exception of Serbia. In contrast, Poland, despite its efforts to shield its market from Ukrainian competition, has seen a decline in its ranking, now standing at eighth place.
Between April 2023 and March 2024, Ukraine’s exports of frozen raspberries to the U.S. reached 265 tons. While this quantity may seem modest, it signifies a pivotal shift from sporadic trial shipments to consistent, large-scale exports, amounting to two to three sea containers monthly by the end of 2023. This strategic move has allowed Ukraine to surpass established exporters like Poland, Belgium, France, China, and Morocco in terms of volume shipped to the U.S. market.
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“A decade ago, Ukraine was virtually absent from the frozen raspberry export scene, which was then dominated by the U.S. and Serbia,” observes Andriy Yarmak, an economist with the Investment Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). “It was only about five years ago, in 2018-19, that Ukraine began to make its mark on the global raspberry market. Today, it stands poised to become a world leader in this sector.”
Yarmak also notes the potential impact of Russia’s ongoing military aggression against Ukraine on the sector’s growth. Nevertheless, as of 2024, Ukraine is one of the rare European nations where raspberry cultivation areas have not diminished, and processing capacities have actually expanded. Furthermore, the market outlook for Ukrainian raspberry producers is highly favorable, with a surge in demand across Europe signaling a promising season ahead.
A key objective for Ukraine’s berry industry is to diversify its export markets, thereby reducing reliance on Polish demand. The uptick in frozen raspberry exports to the U.S. is thus seen as a highly encouraging development.
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