Soft fruit production and export in Poland
Poland is a big producer and exporter of soft fruit. The fruits goes mainly to the other EU countries. What fruit goes where to and what are the amounts?
Currants
Poland occupies the 2nd position in the world, after Russia in the production of currants. The total cultivation area of currants (black and colored) in recent years has been, on average, ca 44 thousand ha. The harvest of these fruit in 2018 was 164.6 thousand tonnes, by about 28% more than the year before. The vast majority were black currants, the harvest of which was about 126.3 tonnes.
In 2018 the export volume of fresh blackcurrants was 2.5 thousand tonnes and its value more than 1.1 mln eur. The customers of fresh blackcurrants were mostly EU- countries. The largest customers (by quantity) were Germany(47%) and Austria(17%). Among the non-EU countries, the majority of currants were sold to Belarus (21%).
The quantity of frozen currants exported by Poland is by far higher than that of fresh currants. The total export volume of frozen blackcurrants in 2018 was 45.1 thousand tonnes (about 22 mln. eur) of which the majority (56%) were exported to the EU countries. When compared to 2017, the export volume increased by 13%. The major customers of frozen blackcurrant in 2018 were Germany (22%), Belarus (36%), the United Kingdom (9%), the Netherlands(9%) and Belgium (5%).
Blueberries
The cultivation area of blueberries in Poland is about 5.5thousand ha. Poland occupies the 6th position in the ranking of the largest global producers of blueberries and the 2nd position in Europe (right after Spain).
In 2018 the export volume of fresh blueberries and cranberries was 13.9 thousand tonnes and its value, 81.6 eur When compared to 2017 the export was higer by 2%. The customers of blueberries were almost only the EU countries, to which more than 90% of the whole foreign sales were exported (by weight). The largest customers of fresh blueberries were: the United Kingdom (31%), Germany(29%), the Netherlands(12%), Sweden (4%) and Denmark(3.5%).
The quantity of frozen fruit exported by Poland is slightly higher than that of fresh blueberries. The total export volume of frozen blueberries in 2018 was 14.8 thousand tonnes (about 35.4mln eur), of which about 80% (12 thousand tonnes) were exported to the EU countries. When compared to 2017, the export of frozen blueberries was higher by 2,2%. The major consumers of these fruit were Germany (30%), Belarus(14%), France (9.4%) Lithuania (8.9%), the Netherlands (6.4%), Belgium (5.8%) and Sweden(5.5%).
Raspberries
The production of raspberries (including thorn free raspberries) in Poland in 2018 was about 115.6 thousand tonnes which means an increase by 10.7% when compared to 2017 (104.5 thousand tonnes). The cultivation area of raspberries in Poland is more than 29 thousand ha. Poland occupies the 5th position in the ranking of the largest global producers of raspberries and the 2nd position in Europe.
In 2018 the export volume of fresh raspberries was 11.1 thousand tonnes and its value 15.9 mln eur. When compared to 2017 (taking the quantity into account) the export was higher by 2%. The customers of fresh raspberries were almost only the EU countries to which 99.6% of the whole foreign sales were exported to the EU countries. The largest customers of fresh raspberries were Germany (53%), the Netherlands (20%), Belgium (10%), Austria(7.9%) and Italy (2.1%). Among the non EU countries, the customers of small quantities of raspberries were Ukraine and Belarus.
The quantity of frozen raspberries exported by Poland is by far higher than that of fresh raspberries. The total export volume of frozen raspberries in 2018 was 48.8 thousand tonnes (about 75.2 mln. eur) of which more than 90% were exported to the EU countries. The major customers of frozen raspberries in 2018 were Germany (35%), Belgium (12%), the Netherlands (11%), France (8.3%), the United Kingdom (7.6%), Sweden (6.1%) and Denmark (3.3%).
Source: Polish Food