Ukraine is in the world’s top three in terms of blueberry export growth
15 October 2024 05:20
The top 20 blueberry exporters have seen significant changes over the past five years. Georgia, Zimbabwe and Ukraine are the fastest growing blueberry exporters. This is reported by analysts of EastFruit, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Analysts note that in the lower part of the ranking of the top 20 exporters, Zimbabwe stands out, which has shown a rapid increase in blueberry exports over the past five years. Back in 2018, this country almost did not export blueberries, but now it ranks 13th in the global ranking.
In 2022, Zimbabwe was the fastest growing country among the top 20 exporters, with an impressive 48% annual growth rate over the past five years. Each year, the country offers 1.3 thousand tonnes more blueberries for export than the year before.
However, in 2023, Georgia was ahead of Zimbabwe in terms of relative growth rates. During 2019-2023, Georgian blueberry producers increased exports by 55% annually, which was a real breakthrough for the country. Although the absolute growth rate was more modest – 700 tonnes per year – it was in 2023 that Georgia achieved record growth: exports increased by 2.5 times, or 2,000 tonnes. This allowed Georgia to make its debut in the top 20 global exporters, beating competitors such as Italy, New Zealand, Australia and China.
Ukraine took third place in the ranking of fast-growing relatively large blueberry exporters, increasing its exports by 21% annually, or 530 tonnes per year. At the same time, the growth rate of fresh blueberry exports from Ukraine accelerated sharply in 2022 and 2023, despite the Russian invasion. In 2022, Ukraine increased its exports of this berry by 1.1 thousand tonnes, and in 2023 – by 940 tonnes.
Another noteworthy development was the debut of China in the top 20 in 2023. This country is rapidly increasing the area under blueberries and is gradually becoming an exporter of this berry.
Among the top 20, only Chile, Argentina, and New Zealand have seen a decline in exports over the past 5 years.
Among the top ten largest exporters of fresh blueberries, the leaders in terms of growth were Serbia, Mexico and Morocco.
Peru remains the world leader in blueberry exports by a wide margin. Despite the sharp decline in exports in 2023, Peru exported 2.5 times more blueberries than Chile, and the average growth rate for 5 years was still 14.5% or 28.2 thousand tonnes per year. The share of Peru in the net (excluding re-exports) international trade of fresh blueberries in 2019-2023 was estimated by EastFruit analysts at 30-32%.
