Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Poland seriously concerned about apple wars with Ukraine
Ukrainian fruit growers actively intensify their apple exports. According to farmer.pl with reference to Rzeczpospolita, in future, this may constitute a menace to Polish farmers, especially for those exporting apples to Russia.
The official statistical data show that Ukraine's apple production will amount to 1.049 million tonnes that is 17% more than in 2010 when farmers harvested 897,000 tonnes of these fruits. According to Fruit-Inform's updated forecast, the 2011 apple production growth will amount to 11% year-on-year in Ukraine.
The Russian Federation is the major consumer of both Ukrainian and Polish apples. At the same time, Ukraine's storage system is not developed enough that leads to Ukrainian apple exports not impressing for the present. The main part of harvest is sold right after the harvesting, in contrast to Polish produce which begins to predominate in the Russian market in winter months. Polish producers are concerned about Ukraine's storage capacity to grow in the nearest years that will lead to Ukrainian suppliers to drive out Polish exporters from the Russian market mainly thanks to more competitive prices.
In addition, with the growth in apple harvest, Ukraine may increase production of apple juice concentrate (AJC). And this again means strengthening of competition with Polish producers of AJC. However, Ukraine has already become one of the biggest exporter of AJC to the EU market. According to the official statistics, Ukraine exported 26,500 tonnes of AJC to the EU countries in 2010 being behind only China and Turkey.
Such a situation led to the European Commission to support Poland's promotion of its agricultural produce (primarily, apples and macaroni products) in Ukraine. The outside-EU promotion campaigns' budgets are to be approved in Brussels in November this year. As Rzeczpospolita found out, there are two Polish promotion campaigns (regarding apples and macaroni) waiting to be approved. Gardeners' Association of Poland, the author of one of them, intends to start promotion of Polish produce in Ukraine most likely trying “to blunt their competitor's vigilance” and slow construction of storage facilities down.
The total cost of Polish promotion campaigns amounts to 7 million euro. 30% of this sum is compensated by the government, the rest is covered by producers.
We would remind you that Ukraine's prospects of AJC and apple exports will be actively discussed during the Eighth International Conference “Fruits & Vegetables of Ukraine – 2011. New Exporter”. The event will take place in conjunction with Fresh Produce Ukraine 2011 Fair which will be held at IEC, the most up-to-date exhibition center of Ukraine in Kiev, from November 30 to December 2, 2011.
More information about Fresh Produce Ukraine 2011, its exhibitors and the exhibition floor plan is available on the official web-site. Application form for participation as an exhibitor is downloadable here. To participate in the conference, please fill out an application form.
Pay your attention that preferential conditions of participation in the conference are in force only till October 30!