According to EastFruit, Ukraine is one of the leading global exporters of the wild blueberries – Ukrainian king of antioxidants. Organically certified low bush blueberries could boost the health of consumers’ heart and overall immune system, it is also an excellent source of dietary fibre, vitamin C and vitamin K and contains a large number of antioxidants. Consequently, Ukrainian wild blueberries considered a “superfood” and the Amethyst Ole company supplies local and international buyers with it.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) have helped the company to upgrade its production and boost exports. Amethyst Ole is located in the village of Rudnya Bystra in northern Ukraine. It procures and processes wild berries – blueberries in particular. Local businesses and micro-farmers in the Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsk, Rivne and Volyn regions harvest wild berries and bring them to designated collection points scattered around various villages. By midnight, Ole picks up the berries and takes them to the production site. Every batch is processed within four hours of arrival. This ensures that the berries remain fresh and retain their healthy properties.

“When we started in 2011, we already had extensive experience of retailing berries, but with Ole we wanted to concentrate on quality over quantity and, even more importantly, create jobs for locals and give farmers an opportunity to have their goods sold outside Ukraine. With blueberry exports on the rise, we ship to Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Belgium and many other countries,” says Vasyl Chamor, Ole’s Chief Operating Officer.

Freshly picked berries are unloaded in a cooling corridor at -5℃ and then stored in a freezer room at -22 to -25℃ before reaching the processing line.

First, a spiral conveyor fans the berries and separates off the leaves, gravel and any other waste. The blueberries are then automatically sorted according to size before reaching the electronic cleaning machine. This state-of-the-art machine, is a custom-built photographic berry separator, has 16-colour video cameras that allow a 360-degree view of the processed berries.

“This machine is necessary to ensure that only top-quality berries reach the final physical quality check and inspection line before being packed and shipped,” Vasyl explains.

After a final quality check, the blueberries are electronically weighed and packed. Every package goes through a metal detector and is checked for radiation levels. In addition, every batch of berries undergoes regular spot checks for harmful particles.

“We take consumer safety very seriously. Our goal is to ensure that our processing machinery and methods meet the high standards set by the EU. That is why we have all our equipment and processes certified. This includes all relevant certifications for ISO, organic and natural product processing and hazard analysis standards,” Vasyl adds.

Lastly, the company stores the packed blueberries in freezing chambers at approximately -35℃ until they are shipped to customers.

The EU4Business-EBRD credit line helped the berry processor to upgrade machinery and purchase crate-washing equipment, as the company was able to take out a loan through local partner institution Bank Lviv. Amethyst Ole is just one of the 470 Ukrainian businesses that have benefited from EBRD-EU4Business credit line funds.

Small and medium-sized businesses are vital for sustainable economic development in any country. For agriculturally focused countries like Ukraine, it remains challenging to access technologies and meet industry standards, especially for businesses that are located outside big cities and regional centres.

Through partner banks, the EBRD and the EU support firms in Ukraine and other Eastern Partnership countries with finance and grant incentives to meet international standards and regulations. This unlocks new opportunities and markets for SMEs, boosts export volumes and builds better economies in the long run.

Сообщение EBRD provides credit to a Ukrainian exporter of frozen berries появились сначала на EastFruit.

Despite all the difficulties of the berry season in 2020 and a drop in the export of fresh berries, Ukraine still managed to slightly increase the export of frozen berries, according to EastFruit.

Last year Ukrainian processors exported 44.6 thousand tons of frozen berries, while a year earlier, exports amounted to 43.5 thousand tons. The main categories of Ukrainian frozen berries were blueberries, raspberries, and  wild berries.

The export of frozen blueberries from Ukraine decreased by 16% to 20.6 thousand tons, while the country managed to export almost one and a half times more frozen raspberries than a year before (18.5 thousand tons). Also, supplies of frozen strawberries fell significantly, by almost a third, to 2.7 thousand tons, and exports of blackberries and mulberries rose by 56% to a record of 2.6 thousand tons.

“Surprisingly, the exports of frozen raspberries from Ukraine has increased given the high prices for fresh berries in the country in 2020 and a serious reduction of the planted area a year earlier. Nevertheless, the deficit of raspberries was notable everywhere in the European market due to the damage from frosts in Serbia, of which Ukrainian processors took advantage, making both Polish and Serbian suppliers concerned,” Yevhen Kuzin, Head of International Projects at Fruit-Inform.com explains.

In addition, the freezing capacity in Ukraine has significantly expanded over the past few years, and the warm autumn weather made it possible to trade remontant varieties of raspberries until November at high prices both for the fresh market and for freezing. This is confirmed by the significant growth in exports of frozen raspberries in value terms, which doubled to $ 40 million in 2020.

“The weather conditions were quite favorable for the Ukrainian export of raspberries, however the situation for the strawberries, blueberries and other wild berries was exactly the opposite. Thus, the producers of strawberries throughout the season were guided by sales at high prices on the fresh market, and the processors were unable to increase their volume. Meanwhile, a decrease in the collection of wild berries in some regions of the country in 2020 led not only to a drop in exports but also to a significant increase in imports of frozen blueberries, lingonberries and other wild berries from Belarus, which rose almost seven times to 800 tons! “, Yevhen Kuzin adds.

In 2020, Poland remained a key market for the frozen berries from Ukraine and increased the volume of imports of these products by 20% to 17.8 thousand tons. From European countries, a significant increase also occurred in the supply of frozen berries to Germany (+ 84% to 4.2 thousand tons), the Netherlands (+ 46% to 1.7 thousand tons) and Belgium (+ 63% to 1.1 thousand tons).

Meanwhile, China remained the main market for Ukrainian products outside the European Union and again increased its purchases of frozen berries from Ukraine, albeit at a slower pace than before. In 2018, China purchased 490 tons of frozen berries from Ukraine, in 2019 and 2020 – 1.3 thousand tons and 1.4 thousand tons, respectively.

It should be noted that the EU, Asia and the Middle East were identified by the experts of the Ukrainian Horticultural Association UHA as a priority for improving the export of frozen berries from Ukraine. More detailed information on the prospects for the development of Ukrainian exports in 2021 will be presented by Taras Bashtannyk, President of the UHA, during a meeting of the members of the FTradeClub Berries organized by the APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits project to be held on April 8-9.

“In addition to a full agenda with leading experts of the industry, suppliers of frozen products will be able to hold meetings with the buyers from Ukrainian supermarket chains. Similar opportunities will be presented for producers of fresh berries, and on the second day the participants of the meeting will visit one of the country’s leading farms for growing blueberries and sea buckthorn,” Yevhen Kuzin says.

Further information about FTradeClub Berries and participation opportunities can be found on the website of the APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits project, or can be requested directly from:

Oleksandr Khorev, +380 67 634 3980,  halex.khorev@gmail.com

Yevhen Kuzin, +380 96 583 6323,  eugenekuzin@gmail.com

Olexandra Manko, +380 66 009 3597,  sashchaa@gmail.com

Сообщение Ukraine managed to increase exports of frozen berries in a difficult 2020 появились сначала на EastFruit.