According to analysts at EastFruit, Ukraine tripled its exports of frozen raspberries to the US in the first half of 2023. This allowed Ukraine to enter the top ten largest suppliers of frozen raspberries to the US for the first time.
In fact, Ukraine ranked 8th among the largest exporters of frozen raspberries to the US. Meanwhile, major traditional suppliers such as Mexico, Chile and Serbia have slightly reduced their export volumes to the US, although the gap between these three exporters and other countries remains very significant.
For example, in the first half of 2023, Mexico exported 340 times more frozen raspberries to the US market than Ukraine. "The growth of frozen raspberry exports from Ukraine to the US market is a very important signal, although volumes remain rather small.
After all, if we compare the raspberry prices paid by US importers in the first half of the year with those paid by importers in EU countries, we can see a huge difference. While prices in the EU have fallen an average of two or more times in the last 12 months, raspberry prices in the US have fallen no more than 10-15%.
In altre parole, gli importatori di lampone surgelato negli Stati Uniti sono disposti a pagare un prezzo elevato per un prodotto di qualità", afferma Andriy Yarmak, economista del Centro investimenti dell'Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'alimentazione e l'agricoltura (FAO).
In other words, importers of frozen raspberries in the US are willing to pay a high price for a quality product,' says Andriy Yarmak, economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Investment Centre.
Recall that the first reports on Ukrainian supply to the US and Canadian markets appeared in 2021. Even then, EastFruit underlined the prospects of these markets, since almost 80 per cent of all import revenues in the international frozen raspberry trade come from importers in the US and Canada!
At the same time, Ukraine continues its export to Poland, which then re-exports Ukrainian products to the EU, UK, US and Canadian markets, retaining a significant part of the added value. Moreover, in 2023, there was a tendency to fall further down the value-added scale when Ukraine started exporting 'frozen raw raspberries' to Poland.
"I believe that if Poland were to impose an import ban on fresh and frozen raspberries from Ukraine, which is currently being considered by the Polish authorities due to farmers' protests, Ukrainian exporters would have to focus on markets in the US, Canada and Japan.
Ukraine, thanks to its unique soil and climate conditions, can and should grow raspberries of the highest quality. The relatively small additional effort that needs to be made in the segment of freezing and sorting frozen raspberries will immediately pay off, because it will open up access to markets with much higher prices.
In addition, Ukraine will also increase exports to traditional EU markets, because the additional profits received by exporters can be reinvested to increase the efficiency and expansion of raspberry plantations in the country,' says Andriy Yarmak.
It should be added that in the first half of 2023, the US imported 23.5 thousand tonnes of frozen product - almost 9 thousand tonnes less than in the same period in 2022 and 3.2 thousand tonnes less than in the first half of 2021.
East Fruit estimates that low prices for this product in the 2023/24 season will again boost demand for frozen raspberries globally and pave the way for further expansion of exports to the US in 2024/25.
Source: East Fruit
