The Ukrainian apple industry deals with many challenges, most related to the war. Still, this season is seen as a success, says Vasyl Kuz, export manager of Farm Gadz: "The 2025 apple season was successful. Despite the rainy weather during the apple harvest, we managed to harvest the entire crop and fill the warehouses with products. There was a slight shortage of workers during the harvest, as many people left Ukraine because of the war. But overall, we are satisfied with our harvest this year."
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Kus emphasizes that the Ukrainian apples are not all for export, as the domestic market and processing industry are served as well. "Every year, the total volume of our apples is approximately 32 to 35 thousand tons. Part of which we store, part we sell immediately online, and part we process at our own plant into concentrated puree, juice, and apple chips. The demand for apples is somewhat different from previous years, and some people left the country, but many orchards have stopped working at the same volumes as before."
For exports, the Middle East is a popular market for Ukrainian exporters, Kuz explains: "We're constantly looking for new export markets, and this balances the situation with demand and supply for our company. Our current main export markets are the Middle East, Asia, and European countries. Our apple was very popular in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, for example."
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Of course, the war remains the largest challenge that all Ukrainian companies have to deal with, Kuz states. "Many employees are now serving in the army, and some people have gone abroad. Every day, alarm sirens sound as the Russians launch shaheeds and missiles across the country. The main goal for the Russians now seems to be to disconnect Ukraine from electricity and bomb all energy facilities. As a result, power outage schedules are applied throughout the country. Sometimes there are two-to-three hours of electricity per day. It was decided to buy two powerful diesel generators in order to ensure the storage and sorting of apples. Also, two years ago, we installed solar panels on the roof, which allows us to additionally generate electricity for the network and for our own needs."
Despite these hardships, Kuz says they've still managed to invest in their business with a new sorting line: "Last year we bought another Grefa sorting line, which greatly accelerated the apple sorting process. Now we can ship double the amount of apples. We also invested in a processing plant. We started producing concentrated puree for the B2B market."
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"The main desire of all Ukrainians now is the end of the war. Therefore, we hope for this. But looking at business, the plans are to successfully complete the sale of all apples by June and start working with berries, as we also have strawberries and currants. After the berries, the harvest of early varieties of apples begins immediately, so our work is in full swing all year round, and we have reached the level from just a producer of apples to an exporter and manufacturer of finished products," Kuz concludes.
For more information:
Vasyl Kuz
Gadz
Tel: +38 096 41 01 993
[email protected]
www.fg-gadz.com.ua
