Ukraine increased its blueberry exports by 65% in volume in 2021, compared to 2020. At the same time, export volumes of fresh blueberries were 18% lower than in the record-breaking year of 2019. The downward trend in the price of blueberries, which is unpleasant for Ukrainian exporters, should also be noted; the average export price for blueberries in 2021 was on average 9% lower than in 2020.
Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN: “We have to admit that the structure of blueberry exports from Ukraine has deteriorated. Its geography, unfortunately, shows a bias not towards direct exports, but sales to Poland and Belarus. Polish traders then re-export Ukrainian blueberries to other EU countries, earning additional money on them.”
“Belarus, in turn, re-exports Ukrainian blueberries to the Russian market. And these two countries accounted for 65% of the total export of Ukrainian blueberries. The third-largest importer of Ukrainian blueberries is the Netherlands, which is also a major intermediary. Therefore, more than 70% of blueberries from Ukraine were exported to intermediary countries and only about one-third to consumer countries.”
Source: east-fruit.com