According to EastFruit analysts, Ukraine continues its active expansion into the global markets of frozen berries and fruits, which we wrote about in the article “Ukraine is the world champion in terms of berry exports growth rate.”
Another confirmation was the publication of official Chinese data on imports of frozen fruits and berries, except strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries for the first 11 months of 2023. According to this information, imports of frozen fruits and berries from Ukraine increased 4.7 times compared to the period January-November 2022 and became and were record high. Ukraine’s export revenue in this category amounted to US $3.1 million. Among all suppliers of frozen fruits and other berries, Ukraine entered the top 7 for the first time and almost caught up with Poland, which ranks sixth.
“It is most likely that almost the entire volume of exports in this category is accounted for by frozen blueberries, and, possibly, partially, frozen wild blueberries. The fact is that Ukraine has not yet received clearance by Chinese authorities to export fresh blueberries to China, but exports of frozen blueberries were allowed several years ago. By the way, since there is no separate international HS code for frozen blueberries yet, and this category also includes all fruits without exception, including exotic ones, then if we discard fruits and exotics, Ukraine is most likely now the third largest supplier of frozen blueberries to China after Chile and Poland,” explains Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
By the way, for Ukraine in 2023, China was only the 10th largest export market in this category of frozen fruits and berries. Poland remains the main buyer with a major lead over others. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that part of Polish exports of frozen blueberries to China are, in fact, Ukrainian berries.
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