The export season of walnuts from Ukraine in 2022 began with record lows, and prices for the walnut kernels in the Ukrainian market continue to disappoint producers and suppliers, EastFruit reports.
In the first three months of the 2022/23 season (October-September), Ukrainian exporters sold only 1 400 tonnes of inshell walnuts and 3 100 tonnes of shelled walnuts abroad. Compared to the same period of the previous season, exports fell by 26%, and if compared to the average for the previous five seasons, the drop will be even more significant – 41%!
“The exports of walnuts from Ukraine have been steadily declining over the past two seasons, and the current season was no exception. Naturally, one of the key reasons for such trends was the consequences of full-scale aggression by Russia, including the occupation of the South of Ukraine and attacks on civilian infrastructure followed by blackouts. Nevertheless, the drop in Ukrainian exports is also due to the fact that a new major player quite unexpectedly appeared on the global nut market, China, which began to quickly oust its competitors, including Ukraine,” explains Evhen Kuzin, head of the analytical department of the “APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits” project.
Although in recent years large areas of varietal walnuts have been laid in Ukraine, the bulk of Ukrainian exports are walnuts collected from non-professional orchards or plantations. This fact presents a huge problem for ensuring the quality of walnuts for export because it is quite difficult to collect a homogeneous batch of in-shell or processed walnuts from different suppliers.
“As a result, Ukraine reduced exports during the previous two seasons, because the global industry was in a COVID-19 crisis, and demand for nuts, especially low-quality nuts, fell sharply. Moreover, quality problems, exacerbated by the consequences of the war, once again prevented the country from increasing exports this year, when the demand for nuts in the world has intensified due to the restoration of their consumption,” Evhen Kuzin continues.
For more information: east-fruit.com