According to EastFruit analysts, despite Russian aggression, Ukraine has recently taken a tremendous leap towards global leadership in the export of frozen raspberries. Over the last five seasons, Ukraine’s frozen raspberry exports have increased by 3.1 times, with an average annual growth rate of 40-45%. During the same period, the global leader, Serbia, reduced its net exports of this product by 35%, and Poland by 26%.
“Just 10 years ago, Ukraine practically did not export frozen raspberries – the market in Europe and globally was dominated by two countries, Serbia and Poland. Ukraine accounted for less than 1% of what Serbia and Poland collectively exported, which had no significant impact on the market. However, in 2018, Ukraine started to gain recognition, even though the volumes of exports from Ukraine were incomparable to the leaders – accounting for only about 5% of their total volume. However, by the end of the 2022/23 season, Ukraine’s raspberry exports exceeded 50% of what Serbia exported and 43% of Poland’s total frozen raspberry exports. I emphasize the word ‘total,’ because almost 37% of raspberry exports from Poland were re-exports, mostly of Ukrainian raspberries. Therefore, if we consider net exports, Ukraine has come fairly close to Poland in terms of volume,” says Andriy Yarmak, an economist at the investment department of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
He also notes that these figures include the export of frozen blackberries, but their volume is relatively small. According to Andriy Yarmak, Serbia, like Poland, in its efforts to maintain its position in the global market for frozen raspberries, also increased the import of this berry from other countries, including Ukraine, for further re-export. However, the growth rate of raspberry imports by Serbia was lower than that of Poland, and re-exports accounted for only about 13% of all external supplies. In the meantime, Ukraine did not import frozen raspberries at all.
As we can see from the chart, net raspberry exports from Serbia have been decreasing for three consecutive seasons, and from Poland for four consecutive seasons. At the same time, raspberry exports from Ukraine increase every year, even in years when prices are not too high.
“Let me clarify that in the ranking of exporters by the value of frozen raspberry exports, Ukraine is still far behind Poland, not to mention Serbia. This is very bad for Ukraine, as it adversely affects the income of the entire industry, especially farmers. Currently, Ukrainian raspberry farmers are not very pleased because the prices this season often did not even cover the costs of cultivation and harvesting. However, this is part of the traditional cyclical nature of the raspberry market. What’s more, it’s a lesson for Ukraine, which traditionally focused on selling raspberries at the lowest price to Poland, where a significant portion of the added value remained. This year, Ukrainian freezers went even further, creating a new quality category of frozen raspberries, which further worsened the price situation. If the industry invested even minimal funds in marketing and product refinement, it could sell raspberries for export almost twice as expensive. In other words, Ukraine is currently effectively giving about $100 million to other countries, primarily Poland, during raspberry exports, when it could create new jobs and significantly increase the profitability of the industry by investing in product refinement and marketing!” says the FAO expert.
Currently, many companies, for quite understandable reasons, are not rushing with investments. After all, Ukraine, as before, is partially occupied by Russian aggressors who continue missile attacks on civilian infrastructure. This also leads to a shortage of labor, as many residents of the country have become refugees in EU countries, and men have gone to the front lines to defend their country.
“However, it is hoped that Ukraine will soon cope with both the aggressor and the problem of added value in raspberry exports. We look forward to the introduction of optical sorting lines for frozen berries in the country and an activation of efforts to promote the export of high-quality frozen products to the markets of the USA, Canada, Japan, and other countries that pay 2-3 times more for raspberries than Poland. By the way, if Poland bans the import of fresh and frozen raspberries from Ukraine, it will only help the Ukrainian industry – because then there will be a need to invest in quality and marketing. Therefore, Ukraine will have an additional $100 million in export revenue, which can be reinvested in further expanding raspberry production and freezing,” says Andriy Yarmak.
It should be noted that Ukraine’s active expansion into global markets has led to a decrease in frozen raspberry exports from Chile. Already in the 2022/23 season, Ukraine surpassed this country in the global ranking of exporters. In addition, Ukraine was able to surpass Mexico, which is also actively increasing the production of frozen raspberries due to its proximity to the world’s largest market – the USA. Raspberries growers from Morocco have also joined the chase, sharply increasing production and exports in the last five years. This means that the capacity of the global frozen raspberry market continues to grow, as does competition.
Source: EastFtruit