Ukraine became one of world's top ten blueberry producers by its cultivation acreage in 2021 - EastFruit

MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax) - The acreage for growing blueberry in Ukraine in 2021 amounted to about 5,300 hectares, having increased approximately by 1,000 hectares year-on-year, which enabled Ukraine to become the eighth largest world producer of these berries.

As the Ukrainian media reported citing the website of EastFruit information and analytical platform on Tuesday, these data are contained in an annual report of the International Blueberry Association for the year 2022, in which Ukraine took eighth place in 2021, ahead of such major exporters as Spain and South Africa.

EastFruit noted that the blueberry in 2021 was grown on the largest acreage in China, which is estimated at 69,000 hectares. However, thanks to its large domestic market, China consumes all of its grown produce on its own. Other countries with extensive acreage of blueberry were the United States (48,100 hectares), Chile (18,800 hectares), Peru (16,900 hectares), Canada (12,100 hectares), Poland (11,000 hectares), and Mexico (9,100 hectares).

All the top 10 countries by the acreage of blueberry in 2021 soared the volume of its cultivation. The leaders in terms of the rate of growth of blueberry acreage are China (9,000 hectares up in 2021), Peru (+3,200 hectares), the U.S. (+2,900 hectares), Poland (+1,500 hectares), and Ukraine (+1,000 hectares).

Despite the large areas for blueberry, Ukraine is somewhat behind other countries with a milder climate in terms of yields, economist of the investment department of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Andrei Yarmak said. Nevertheless, Ukrainian blueberries are distinguished by their high taste qualities thanks to unique soil and climatic conditions.

EastFruit also noted that Ukraine has managed to boost its blueberry export to an all-time high of 2,500 tonnes this season. The largest sales market for Ukrainian blueberries this year was Poland, which imported 1,350 tonnes of berries, which is 2.2 times higher than in 2021.

"The total export of fresh blueberries from Ukraine in 2022 exceeded 2,500 tonnes, an increase of one and a half times compared to 2021. The previous record blueberry exports from Ukraine, which was achieved in 2019, was exceeded by 11%. And this is despite the fact that in 2022 there was no supply of blueberries from Ukraine to Belarus, which was one of the main sales markets for Ukrainian blueberries before this year," EastFruit said in a statement.