At the FreshIdeas stage at the Global Blueberry Congress in Rotterdam, it was obvious by looking at the program of speakers from Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Romania, that this region has gotten the attention of 'big industry players'.
Fred Douven from Abb Growers held a presentation about Serbia in one of the morning sessions and explained how his company has been actively cooperating to give growers in the country the tools to modernise production and help them become a global player.
"We provide the companies with plant materials and other materials for growing, but one of the most important things we do provide them with the necessary information in order to succeed. For example, we see continually that small packaging, for on the go, is becoming more and more popular around the world. We have found that it is important for us to convince growers that even if it is not already available, that retailers in Serbia are looking for new concepts," stressed Fred.
With all this potential and opportunity, Fred stressed that it is important not to try to grow too quickly, before growers are ready to enter new markets correctly.
Along with production, berry consumption is also increasing in the region. Boštjan Kozole from Evrosad said that raspberries and blueberries in particular have seen the largest growth.
"There has been a lot of changes in the fresh market in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Famous chefs and other cooking shows have helped increase consumer demand and draw up interest for all berries," said Boštjan during his presentation about the current market situation in the three countries. Click here for his berry production figures for each country.
Radu Niculescu from Romanian blueberry producer MerryBerry informed the audience that blueberry production actually started as long as 50 years ago, with plants being brought over from the US and France in 1968.
"Our company was started in with 20 hectares 2015, with continual growth ever year, reaching 653 hectares in 2017. We have 350 hectares for future production, are busy building a packhouse located in the middle of the orchard, which should be finished in 2019, with 3 pre-cooling chambers and 5 ULO/CA rooms. The benefit we have is that the land we grow on used to be a plum orchard, which was left untouched for 30 years due to political issues in our country, meaning that we have clean soil and no pesticide residue which gives us perfect conditions for growing organic blueberries," confirmed Radu.