Ukrainian apples are popular on the world market of agricultural products

The season of selling apples, which is ending, showed that the quality of the goods of Ukrainian producers is generally better than the quality demonstrated by their main competitors - Polish, Moldovan and Serbian gardeners. Volodymyr Gurzhiy, head of the fruit export company USPA Fruit, told about this in the market review of the magazine "Ukrainian Gardening".

As noted by the media with reference to the mentioned review, Ukraine at one time was ahead of Serbia and Moldova in exporting to a number of markets, and today these countries are catching up with Ukraine in terms of the depth of distribution, and the Poles are already significantly superior in terms of potential due to greater opportunities at the level of phytoprotocols and permits in the countries of Southeast Asia and Latin America. But due to the shortage of workers, the demand for the state grant for horticulture, berry growing and greenhouses may decrease. Eventually, this will affect the prices of berries and fruits. Such a forecast was voiced by Maksym Hopka, UKAB analyst, in the market review of the magazine "Gardening in Ukrainian". If you take the entire production chain from planting the product to harvesting and selling, there will be a shortage of people at all stages due to the mobilization and outflow of labor from the country, experts warn. Therefore, business owners need to look for them, motivate them, and pay them more. Otherwise, the time for all processes, for example, harvesting, will increase. In the medium term, the labor shortage will significantly affect pricing.

Note that the European organic apple harvest this year will be approximately 15% lower due to frost damage and poor flowering conditions. If demand continues to rise, supply will likely not be sufficient. There was also concern about the rising costs of organic apple production: over the past three years, they have risen by around €0.25/kg. The forecast of the organic apple harvest for the 2024 season became one of the topics of the meeting. This year's crop is expected to be around 15 percent lower due to frost damage and poor flowering conditions in some European regions.