EastFruit analysts draw the attention of Ukrainian exporters to a very promising, but still new market of frozen raspberries – Japan. According to our estimates, Japan increased imports of raspberries by 25% in value terms and by 5% in volume in 2021. Given a sharp rise in global prices for frozen raspberries, many countries are reducing their imports, but Japan continued to increase purchases.
“First of all, Japan is notable as one of the most stable markets in the world, demonstrating a steady growth trend. The second reason why Ukrainian exporters should pay attention to the Japanese market is a high level of prices with high quality requirements. The third reason is that the main competitors of Ukraine, Serbia and Poland, are already supplying frozen raspberries to Japan, and Serbia is their second largest supplier to China after Chile.” says Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Chile and Serbia provided up to 65-70% of all frozen raspberry supplies to the Japanese market in 2021. New Zealand and the United States account for another 12% of the total volume of Japanese raspberry imports. The share of frozen raspberry imports from Denmark, Poland and France is about 2% each.
Noteworthy, even Bosnia and Herzegovina is exporting frozen raspberries to Japan, but there has not been a single supply from Ukraine so far. At the same time, Ukraine continues to supply the bulk of its raspberries to Poland, which, in turn, makes good money on their re-export.
Recall that in 2021, Ukraine made some progress when it exported Ukrainian raspberries to the United States and Canada for the first time. According to our estimates, the exports of frozen berries brought Ukraine about $200 million in exports earnings in 2021, becoming the main source of income for the fruit and vegetable industry. The rise in prices for raspberries, according to EastFruit analysts, has become the main event among the TOP-10 events of the fruit and vegetable market in 2021. Given the rush around raspberries, “Raspberry Boom-2” is about to start in the country and disappoint many investors.
By the way, Ukraine has become the leader in the growth rate of frozen raspberry exports in the world, while Poland is the fastest to increase the volume of raspberry imports. This proves once again that the access of Ukrainian suppliers to the frozen raspberry market in Japan is currently topical.
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