This season Ukraine may set another record in berry exports. This was assumed by experts of Info –Shuvar, given the plans of the Ukrainian exporters. Last year, Ukrainian suppliers worked on the external sales channels development, especially of soft berries - a very difficult product to sell even in the domestic market, let alone export.
According to Info-Shuvar, last year Ukraine set a record in the export of fresh berries. In 2016 total exports of Ukrainian hard berries constituted 1.9K tons, while more than 2.7K tons of soft berries were exported.
"One interesting fact is that last year the record was set due to a significant increase in exports of soft berries. Previously, almost 90% of the fresh berry exports were cherries and they were shipped to Russia. In 2016 Ukraine exported for the first time more strawberries than cherries."
"This indicates a significant increase of professionals in the berry business of Ukraine because it is actually quite difficult to export soft berries. These products are extremely delicate. Meanwhile, Ukrainian farmers in 2016 saw an almost 2-fold increase in the export of fresh raspberries - fruit, which is the most difficult to be handled," says Tetiana Hetman, horticulture market of Eastern Europe expert.
According to official statistics, in 2016 the volume of the export of blueberries to Poland increased by 3.5 times and reached 1.5K tons. Fresh blueberries were exported to the Netherlands, Great Britain and Belarus.
Total shipments volumes, compared to last year, have increased by almost 4 times to 1.2K tons. In addition, last year statistics recorded deliveries of fresh raspberries to Poland of the amount of 700 tons. Also, in 2016 we exported 140 tons of cranberries, currants and blackberries - 80 and 50 tons, respectively.
source: info.shuvar.com
