Italy is known as an exporter of the highest quality fruit and berry nursery plants. According to EastFruit analysts, Italy ranks second in the world in terms of fruit and berry nursery plants exports, after the Netherlands.

Therefore, the first historical export shipment of blueberry plants to Italy from a Ukrainian nursery sounds even more exciting. After all, Ukraine itself is one of the twenty largest importers of Italian nursery plants of fruit and berry crops.

Ukrainian company FruiTech, which produced and exported the first batch of blueberry nursery plants to its client in Italy explained to EastFruit that it was not very easy to convince an Italian buyer to buy nursery plants from Ukraine. The recommendations of a Ukrainian fresh berry exporter, who knew and the Italian buyer and was developed a trust with them, played an important role here.

However, the quality of the Ukraine’s nursery plants and their price turned out to be even more convincing in comparison with competitors from the European Union. “We could offer a product of an EU-quality and a competitive price, which is the main reason the buyer chose us. As a result, we exported to Italy a truckload of blueberry nursery plants of the Reka and Bluegold varieties, which should be enough to plant 9-10 hectares of blueberries,” Oleg Bosyy, Managing Partner of FruiTech LLC, explains.

He also notes that atfer the first export shipment, several more potential Italian customers became interested in purchasing blueberry plants from the Ukrainian nursery. Therefore, it is possible that there will be more shipments to Italy soon.

Prior to that, blueberry plants from Ukrainian nurseries were exported mainly to Georgia and Armenia, and in 2020 a small batch of nursery plants was delivered even to Poland. This year, FruiTech expanded the exports market of blueberry nursery plants to include Kazakhstan and Moldova. They are also now considering requests from potential buyers of high-quality berry planting material from several Central Asian countries, where interest in blueberry cultivation has grown significantly recently.

As EastFruit notes, FruiTech is known among Ukrainian and Eastern European berry producers for its transparency in doing business and for an uncompromising fight against violations of intellectual property rights for berry varieties.

FruiTech LLC itself considers the management of intellectual property rights of plant varieties to be its main activity. “The introduction, production testing, state registration and licensing of new, promising varieties of fruit and berry crops in cooperation with leading scientific institutions and breeding centers from around the world is the basis for the activity of FruiTech LLC,” the company’s website says.

Moreover, FruiTech, in cooperation with the best Ukrainian and foreign producers of planting material, offers high-quality certified nursery plants of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and tall blueberries for commercial producers of berry crops and is an important source of high-quality inputs for professional nurseries. The company also provides full technological support and consulting support for clients with the involvement of the best Ukrainian and foreign specialists. Such support includes the development of technological maps, planning of the protection system, recommendations for plant fertilization and field visits during the organization of important technological operations.

Сообщение Ukraine is now exporting blueberry nursery plants to Italy! появились сначала на EastFruit.

The price situation on the Ukrainian berry market has developed in such a way that currently even an ineffective producer without deep knowledge and proper agronomic support can stay on and be effective. However, over time, the situation will change and non-professionals will leave the market. This opinion was expressed by Oleg Bosyi, Development Director of FruTek LLC (Ukraine), during the online webinar “Major Mistakes in Berry Growing”, which took place on August 12. The event was organized by the Yak Bdzhola cooperative.

“Fortunately for these people, this is true (the ability to be effective in the market with inefficient production – EastFruit). Currently, it is possible to get a yield of blueberries at the level of 3-4 t/ha with a potential of 10-12 t/ha and effectively function in the market. This is due to the fact that there are such conditions in the market: having received even a small harvest, producers have the opportunity to sell it at a very high price, because this year the minimum price for blueberries has increased by 50%. Therefore, even having a plantation in the weeds, without watering and feeding, the business has the opportunity to earn good money,” explained the development director of FruTek LLC.

At the same time, he expressed confidence that “sooner or later the market will change”.

“An example of this is the raspberry segment, where currently only producers, who have well-groomed plantations and high yields effectively operate. They have gone through a two-year period of low prices and currently, their business is doing very well. The same will happen in the segment of garden strawberries and black currants. One of the main mistakes in the berry business is to invest in those crops for which there is an inadequately high price on the market at the moment. In fact, there is a need to choose those berries for which the price at the current moment is inadequately low because sooner or later non-professionals will leave the market and the price will go up again,” said Oleg Bosyi.

In turn, speaking about possible business failures, co-owner of the Dolina-Agro nursery (Ukraine) Oleg Bazyuk noted that about 50% of Ukrainian producers use an unsuccessful approach when laying berry plantations.

“However, this is a typical problem, for example, for Polish manufacturers. This tendency, in my opinion, will be observed in Ukraine for several more years. This problem could be solved due to the work of private or state structures, which would provide all the necessary consulting support to investors in the berry business,” said Oleg Bazyuk.

Сообщение One of the main mistakes of the berry business is investing in crops with an inadequately high current price on the market – opinion появились сначала на EastFruit.

There are no problems for people from other types of businesses to become engaged in growing berries. However, there is a need to have a clear understanding of business development and understand what is needed for this. This opinion was expressed by Oleg Bosyi, Development Director of FruTek LLC (Ukraine), during the online webinar “Major Mistakes in Berry Growing”, which took place on August 12. The event was organized by the Yak Bdzhola cooperative.

“Over the past 10 years, I remember more than a dozen of our clients who came to the berry business from other areas. Among them are IT specialists, bankers, marketers, sellers of industrial goods, and this does not mean at all that they cannot be successful in berry growing. The main thing is that a person likes to do this. The only point is that often people are engaged in some kind of business and looking at the price of blueberries in the amount of 200 UAH / kg, they think that it is worth making money in the berry business because of its supposedly super-profitability. This is a very dangerous approach. Very often people do not pay attention to the significant variety of details,” said the development director of FruTek LLC.

Oleg Bosyi also emphasized that it is important not to rely on information received from Facebook, which, on the one hand, is available, and on the other hand, it is rather difficult to choose reliable information from it.

“In addition, there are a lot of scammers who just want to make money on you. Therefore, there is a need to have a partner or an employee, preferably with an agronomic education and understanding of the berry business. Then you can do it successfully,” Oleg Bosyi expressed confidence.

He also noted that there are many people in Ukraine who started doing the berry business and even invested heavily in production and eventually abandoned it. That is why there is a need to engage in strategic planning, have a clear understanding of business development, and what is needed for this.

“An important point is the focus of the business in a specific direction because it is not possible to earn all the money at once. It is important to find a niche. It is unlikely that it will be possible to grow seedlings, from which it will be possible to bake pies for sale, building such a vertically integrated business. You need to be the best in your direction,” said Oleg Bosyi.

He also emphasized that patience is needed in the berry business.

“This is not cryptocurrency trading, where in a half an hour you can either win or lose something. If you invest in berry growing, you should understand that most berry crops are perennials, and accordingly, having plantations of blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries, you will have to wait two to three years until the crops enter the fruiting phase. Accordingly, for this period you will need, firstly, patience, and secondly, financial resources to survive it,” said Oleg Bosyi.

During an online webinar, co-owner of the Dolina-Agro nursery (Ukraine) Oleg Bazyuk expressed the opinion that in order to succeed in the berry business, “the owner must understand why he or she needs this business, what he or she will grow and where, subsequently, he or she will be able to sell it”.

“I am frightened by beginners who come into this business with great zeal in euphoria. Talking with such people, I try to explain to them the nuances of doing business from a more down-to-earth position,” Oleg Bazyuk noted.

He also noted that the owner of the berry business should understand it and there should be no trifles for him.

“Relying on the fact that a hired agronomist or executive director of an enterprise will solve all problems is a road to nowhere, and even if it works, then in no more than 10% of cases. An entrepreneur should be in production as often as possible, feel, relatively speaking, the pulse of the business. Without all this, the enterprise will not be able to effectively function on the market,” assured the co-owner of the Dolina-Agro company.

Сообщение How to succeed in Ukrainian berry business: opinions of market players появились сначала на EastFruit.

Ukrainian berry producers have several competitive advantages in the world market, due to which the country will remain one of the leading global producers for a long time, both in the processing segment and in the fresh market. This opinion was expressed by Oleg Bosyi, Development Director of FruTek LLC (Ukraine), during the online webinar “Major Mistakes in Berry Growing,” which took place on August 12. The Yak Bdzhola cooperative organized the event.

“Ukraine has such climatic conditions that allow local farms to grow most of the berry crops that are in demand on world markets. At the same time, climatic conditions should not be put in the first place, since our main competitive advantage is the availability of a relatively inexpensive labor force. Nevertheless, we must be ready for its rise in price,” said Oleg Bosyi.

The Ukrainian berry market player also expressed the opinion that over time, money in this type of business will “fall in price,” that is, producers will be able to attract loans for development at 2-3% per annum. This, in turn, will stimulate production automation.

Oleg Bosyi also spoke about the place of his company on the market, noting that today FruTek is one of the three largest nurseries of berry crops in Ukraine.

“The main crops in which we specialize today are raspberries, blueberries, honeysuckle, and garden strawberries. In total, we are currently growing about 3 million seedlings. If we talk about blueberries, then this figure is more than 500 thousand seedlings per season.

We have a lot of new licensed varieties of blackberries, raspberries, and garden strawberries. In addition, we are now actively working on expanding our range of blueberry varieties,” said Oleg Bosyi.

At the moment, the company is not engaged in export and focuses on selling its products exclusively on the Ukrainian market.

“This is due to the fact that we simply have nothing to export, for example, currently, even before the start of the autumn season, we do not have seedlings for sale, and everything has already been sold to our clients. I believe that this fact shows the potential of the market, as well as the fact that more and more companies in Ukraine are interested in the berry business,” said Oleg Bosyi.

He also added that Ukrainian nurseries do not compete with each other. Their competitors are primarily companies from Poland and the Netherlands.

In turn, the co-owner of the Dolina-Agro nursery (Ukraine) Oleg Bazyuk noted during an online webinar that currently there is a lack of planting material in Ukraine. The market specialist is sure that the strong competition in this segment contributes to the constant improvement of planting material quality.

He also noted that currently, the Dolina-Agro company’s main activity is the production of blueberry seedlings.

“Currently, we are spending large amounts of money on the selection of new blueberry varieties, which are now being tested, based on the results of which a decision will be made on their inclusion in the national register of varieties and entering the market,” the co-owner of the company said, adding that Dolina-Agro also intends to develop and a segment of blackberry.

 The Dolina-Agro nursery is still exporting its products to the markets of Serbia, Slovenia, Georgia, and Belarus.

“We also received licenses for growing rootstocks from the German nursery union, and in cooperation with them, we plan to grow planting material for both the domestic and export markets,” Oleg Bazyuk said.

Сообщение Number of Ukrainian companies interested in the berry business is increasing – Oleg Bosyi появились сначала на EastFruit.