By KYIV. April 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian exporters of apple concentrate, despite the hostilities and problems with logistics, are strengthening their positions in the world market, the key directions are the EU countries and the United States, EastFruit analytical group said.
“The exports of apple concentrate from Ukraine from July to January of the 2022/2023 season reached 90,000 tonnes. It is a record volume for the period under review; furthermore, it exceeds total export volumes in some previous seasons! If even the volume of exports is minimal in the coming months, there are prerequisites to claim that Ukraine will set a historical record in exports of apple concentrate in the 2022/2023 season,” the EastFruit said on its website on Tuesday.
According to its data, Poland (35% of all exports), the United States (26%), Austria (16%), Germany (13%) are among the leading countries in the import of Ukrainian apple concentrate. Some 3% of the exported concentrate was sent to Turkey, the Netherlands and the UK.
The group’s analysts said Poland used Ukrainian apple concentrate both for its own processing and for re-export to other EU countries, as well as to the United States.
“The recovery of the global market for apple concentrate and the sharp increase in Ukrainian exports did not mean high prices for industrial apples in Ukraine, which many growers hoped for,” EastFruit said, recalling that during the autumn peak of supplies of industrial apple to processors, prices in Ukraine could decline up to UAH 1.80 per kg ($0.05 per kg).
The narrowing of the Ukrainian market for fresh apples due to the war and the departure of the population abroad, low prices for industrial apples may become an additional factor for the uprooting of apple orchards in Ukraine in the 2023/2024 marketing year, analysts said. They add that such a fate awaits orchards with the least popular varieties of apples in foreign markets.
