Together with a further increase in production areas, the introduction of greenhouse technologies and protection against bad weather conditions will be the top trends in the next five years in the Ukrainian blueberry market, as shown by the results of the study “The Market for Highbush Blueberries in the Eastern Europe-2020” conducted by Fruit-Inform.
Such expectations are based on the current outgoing Ukrainian blueberry season, as it was weather conditions that had led to a decline in total production of blueberries in the country despite a stable rise in areas. According to Mr. Oleg Bosyi, Managing Partner at FruiTech, spring frosts resulted in a sharp fall in blueberry harvest, which totaled only half of the levels expected in May 2020. Moreover, some farms talked of up to 90% losses of their production, while the share of low-quality blueberries in harvested volumes was extremely high in Ukraine this year.
While prices kept on making growers happy in the current season, the past few years’ trends may likely result in a decrease of 20-30% in average blueberry prices by 2025 in Ukraine if area extension rates remain the same.
Thus, securing the quality of blueberries before harvesting will be the key investment niche in the Ukrainian blueberry market, as the question of berry handling and packaging in Ukraine is now been resolved. This refers to both the introduction of anti-frost and anti-hail protection technologies and start of new projects of blueberry production in greenhouses. And the current season was again an example, as the first Ukrainian greenhouse blueberries successfully entered the market in early June 2020 and at prices almost twice as high as those fixed for imported berries.
In more details, the five-year outlook for the blueberry market in the Eastern Europe and particularly Ukraine will be presented on the webinar “The Blueberry Market in the Eastern Europe”, which is to run on September 17.
The webinar will be in English and involve speakers representing Fruit-Inform, Ukrainian blueberry market players (Oleg Bosyi from FruiTech, Taras Bashtannyk from Ukrainian Berry), international organizations (Andriy Yarmak from FAO) and other sector participants.
Participation in the webinar is free for pre-registered visitors, and more details are available here.
For more information:
Ievgen Kuzin
Tel: +380 96 5836323
Email: eugenekuzin@gmail.com