Ukraine begins exporting raspberries to USA and Canada

In 2021, Ukraine started exporting frozen raspberries to the United States and Canada for the first time, Ukrinform reports, referring to the ЕastFruit platform for fruit and vegetable business.

“One batch of raspberries was sent to Canada and one to the United States in the amount of one sea container. The logistics took around one and a half months, and the buyer was satisfied with the quality of the supplied products and is considering cooperation with Ukrainian suppliers on a regular basis,” the report says.  

It is noted that the importance of this event for the development of production and freezing of berries in Ukraine is explained by the high level of requirements for product quality and logistics, which were successfully overcome by Ukrainian suppliers. Accordingly, the Ukrainian raspberry exporter has previously successfully passed the FDA (The United States Food and Drug Administration) certification.

According to ЕastFruit, the second important point of this event is that the United States and Canada traditionally pay higher prices for imported raspberries than other large importing countries, which creates good opportunities for Ukrainian exporters to invest in improving product quality.

“The USA and Canada account for around 80% of all global imports of frozen raspberries in value terms and around 65% in physical terms. Access to direct deliveries of frozen raspberries to countries with high import prices for raspberries is a very important step for the further development of the berry business in Ukraine. Indeed, Ukrainian berry freezers will be able to increase the technological level of processing and refinement of frozen raspberries and pay a higher price to suppliers, and they, in turn, will improve the quality of raw materials,” said Andriy Yarmak, Economist at the Investment Centre, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

As reported, exports of Ukrainian berries to the EU are growing. More than 12.5 tonnes of raspberries were exported to the European Union in 2018 and more than 18 tonnes in 2020.

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