Fruit season in Ukraine: prices rise due to weaker harvest
29 November 17:15
The level of fruit harvesting in the 2025 season is about 60% compared to the pre-war period, and fruit storage facilities are loaded by 50% of pre-war volumes, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports, citing EastFruit.
Taras Minko, head of the Ukrsadprom association, commented on the situation: “When fruit cost a penny, it was good for the consumer, but it was a huge disadvantage for the industry itself, as it led to bankruptcies of enterprises. If this trend had continued until today, there would be no more orchards in Ukraine. We would be importing Polish, German, and other apples at European prices, which are currently 2,603 euros per 1 kg.”
The head of the industry association explained that low fruit prices in the pre-war period were due to the high productivity of orchards and the intensive type of industrial horticulture in Ukraine, AgroPortal writes.
“The main factor behind the rise in fruit prices in recent years has been the cost of energy, lack of personnel and labor costs. There are not enough people – they leave the country. Those who stay want to work less and get more. The discrepancy between labor remuneration and productivity is currently incomparable,” emphasized Minko.
He added that it takes 250 workers to harvest a 25-hectare garden. Therefore, many companies harvested 30% of their crops in 2022, 60% in 2024, and the current situation is no better.
In addition, according to the head of UkrSadProm, a lot of fruit storage capacity has been destroyed in Ukraine. As an example, he cited the statistics of the association’s members, who grow orchards on a total of 10 thousand hectares. Before the war, they had about 110-120 thousand tons of storage in refrigerators.
“Currently, about 60% (of the fruit storage capacity) remains. Some have closed, some have frozen out their apple crops due to climate change. This season, about 50-60 thousand tons of refrigerators are used,” Minko stated.
He noted that the culture of consumption of jams and preserves is not yet developed in Ukraine, and this hinders the development of the processing industry. At the same time, he predicts that in the next five years, Ukraine will see a boom in the construction of processing plants specializing in the production of such products.
“If you look at the current market, those who will look at such processing will have great prospects regardless of the number of existing companies. If our parents were massively engaged in twisting, our children will buy ready-made products. Therefore, this is a very promising and interesting industry that will take off in 3-5-7 years,” summarized the head of Ukrsadprom.
