Ukraine may face a critical shortage of seasonal workers for raspberry harvest in 2026, the head of the Ukrainian Fruit and Vegetable Association (UFOA) Taras Bashtannik said.
According to him, without attracting foreign labor, the country will not be able to harvest raspberries and maintain its position as an exporter of this berry.
As noted in the publication, the area of raspberries in Ukraine in 2024 was about 5 thousand hectares, and the need for labor is estimated at about 15 pickers per 1 hectare. Thus, the season requires more than 70 thousand workers only for raspberries. Labor shortages are also affecting blueberry and strawberry farms, as well as apple orchards.
Volodymyr Gurzhyi, the head of USPA Fruit gardening company, said that in 2026 Ukrainian companies plan to import workers to orchards, including from Bangladesh and Nepal, similar to the practice in Serbia. At the same time, taking into account the growth of orchard areas, the additional need may amount to at least 100 thousand pickers.
At the end of 2025, Ukraine confirmed its status as the world’s largest exporter of frozen raspberries, and in the 2026 season, the key vector for the development of the fruit and vegetable sector against the backdrop of stagnant domestic consumption will remain the expansion of exports, said Taras Bashtannik, president of the Ukrainian Fruit and Vegetable Association (UFOA).
“We have been the world’s largest raspberry exporter for two years in a row. According to the results of the 2025 season, exports are expected to reach about 80,000 tons, compared to 65,000 tons a year earlier. The potential for growth remains,” he said during the conference “Profitable Agribusiness 2026.”
According to the expert, a similar trend is observed in the blueberry segment, where production is growing by 15-20% annually. Bashtannik emphasized that the domestic blueberry market has reached a consumption “ceiling” of about 10,000 tons, so further development of the industry is only possible through exports. Currently, Ukraine exports about 8-10 thousand tons of this berry, while world leaders such as Chile and Peru supply up to 400 thousand tons to foreign markets, which indicates significant room for replacement of players in the global market.
Detailing the forecasts for the 2026 season, the president of the UPOA stressed that cheap vegetables and fruits should not be expected. He expressed confidence that the world has entered a phase where the opportunities for low-cost production have been exhausted, and Ukraine remains competitive only because of its lower costs compared to EU countries.
The high profitability of certain crops in previous years (sometimes up to 700% above cost—IF-U) is prompting farmers to rapidly expand their acreage without proper analysis. Bashkanik recalled that this has already led to a “slump” in prices for borscht vegetables in 2025. However, in the new season, the risk of overproduction of carrots or beets will remain and will depend on the timing of spring sowing.
According to the expert, the key obstacle to the development of the fruit and vegetable sector will be the shortage of skilled and unskilled workers. As a result, the industry will face the need for either total mechanization or even the involvement of foreign labor.
Bashkanik predicts that fruit and vegetable producers will traditionally experience problems in the 2026 season due to extreme weather conditions, ranging from drought to abnormal rainfall. This will require farmers to increase their investments in irrigation and protection systems.
Given the high cost and long logistics, particularly to Middle Eastern markets, the success of the season will depend not on the volume of the harvest, but on the ability to sell it to foreign markets.
“The issue of overproduction is not about how much we harvested, but whether we were able to sell it. If we work well for export, everything will be fine. Ukraine has an advantage in the diversity of its soil and climate zones, and if you choose the right varieties, you can invest in any crop — from pears to Jerusalem artichokes,” summarized the president of the UPA.
Earlier, the Experts Club information and analytical center released a video dedicated to global raspberry production https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IHaYTp6IbCM
In 2022 LNZ Group agricultural holding produced 7 thousand tons of frozen berries, fruits and vegetables at its plant for frozen berries, vegetables and vegetables in Shpole (Cherkasy region). They are sold under TM Tevitta – raspberry, sweet corn, seedless cherry, pumpkin, elderberry, currant, blueberry etc.
According to the LNZ website, the Tevitta brand has a closed circle of production and performs all production processes on its own, from growing to direct sales of packaged products.
In particular, the nursery has grown 2 million seedlings of strawberry, 220 thousand of raspberry and blackberry and about 50 thousand of other cultures: dog rose, elderberry, currant and cherry. In addition, in 2022, the company planted two new nurseries for raspberries and strawberries, a nursery for nursery seedlings, and built nearly three dozen tunnels for growing berries on an area of more than 2 hectares.
“Despite the war, the Tevitta brand was able to ramp up production, storage and direct processing capacity. And while the brand was already in operation in 2021, it was 2022 that was the year to fully launch and operate. The brand combined seedling production, berry, vegetable and fruit freezing and market sales. That is, the full-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation, the company actually met at the stage of formation,” the company said.
In addition, in the fields Tevitta planted 60 hectares of land for growing different raw materials for processing – from strawberries to rose hips. The nursery works not only to meet its own needs, but also supplies seedlings to farmers who are engaged in industrial berry production.
“The company is pleased with the result: the plant in 2022 came out to almost 100% utilization. What’s more, it has expanded its export boundaries. Products have already reached the markets of France, Belgium, Germany, Estonia and England. In addition, in early 2023 frozen products of Tevitta brand can be found on the shelves of stores in Ukraine and other European countries”, – summed up the holding.
LNZ Group was established on the basis of Lebedinsky seed plant. It specializes in selling corn, sunflower, wheat and barley seeds, as well as growing agricultural products and livestock. The group cultivates 70 thousand hectares of land, the number of cattle is about 6 thousand heads.
LNZ Group owns two elevator complexes in Sumy and Kirovograd regions with total storage capacity of 170 thousand tons of grain, and also has its own fleet of cars.
In the unified state register of legal entities and individuals the ultimate beneficiary of PJSC Lebedinsky seed plant (Cherkasy region) is Dmytro Kravchenko.
Ukraine in January-August 2022 imported fruits and nuts for a total of $398 million, which is 16% less than in the same period in 2021, according to the website of the National Research Center “Institute of Agrarian Economics” (IAE) on Friday.
At the same time, deliveries to Ukraine of products of the “fruits and nuts” commodity group accounted for the largest share among other types of agricultural products imported into Ukraine – 10%, mainly citrus fruits, bananas and exotic fruits were imported.
According to the IAE, Turkey has been the main supplier of fruits and nuts to Ukraine for more than 10 years, from which over 126 thousand tons of these products were imported during the eight months of this year. Its share in the cost of domestic fruit imports amounted to 27.1%.
Ukrainian companies also made significant purchases of fruits and nuts in Ecuador (15.3%), Egypt (6.8%), Greece (6.0%), Colombia (5.5%), Spain (4.9%) and Costa Rica (4.1%). Together, these seven countries formed almost 70% of the value of imports of this group of products to Ukraine.
“The greatest demand among fruit and berry products in our country is traditionally enjoyed by citrus fruits and bananas, which formed almost 3/5 of the value of imports in January-August 2022. If more than half of the volumes of citrus imports consistently belong to Turkey, then Ukraine purchases bananas mainly in countries Latin America, in particular in Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica, which this year provided 95% of the value of supplies,” said Bohdan Dukhnitsky, senior researcher at the Department of Economics, whose words are quoted in the message.
The export of vegetables, fruits, berries and nuts, fresh, frozen and dried brought Ukraine $339 million in revenue last year, which is 9.4% more than in 2018, and 20.1% more than in 2017. According to a Tuesday report on the website of the Ukrainian Horticultural Association, walnuts, berries and apples were the main product groups providing growth in the export of fruits and vegetables. The growth in revenue from apple exports over two years exceeded 150%, while exports of nuts and frozen berries grew by about 37% in two years.
At the same time, according to the association, the share of these three leading categories of the total export of fruits and vegetables continued to grow and reached 70% in 2019.
“The growth rate of export of fruits and vegetables from Ukraine remains high, but whether the country can keep them in 2020 is a big question, because there have been a number of negative trends, such as a strengthening of the national currency, a shortage of labor for harvesting products, a decrease in raspberry production, decrease in investments in new orchards and berry plants, and other things. At the same time, there is great hope that Ukraine will continue growing for some time thanks to the fruiting of orchards, nuts and berries laid over the past five years,” Economist at the investment department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Andriy Yarmak said.
According to the association, Ukraine is not even among the top 50 world leaders in terms of fruit and vegetable exports.
“For example, Lithuania, with a climate not favorable for fruits and vegetables, exports more fruits and vegetables than the entire Ukraine. Poland exports $2.6 billion worth fruits and vegetables – eight times more than Ukraine. Moreover, this includes re-export of Ukrainian berries, and other products of the fruit and vegetable group,” the association said.
Adult Ukrainians consume almost half the amount of vegetables (174 grams versus the recommended 300 grams per day) and less than 30% of fruits and berries (83 grams versus 300 grams per day) compared with the recommendations for healthy eating for adults.
The relevant data are contained in the national study of the current nutritional structure of Ukrainians, which was conducted by the Ipsos international research company at the initiative of Danone in Ukraine.
The results of the study of food consumption in 2018-2019 showed that adults consume an excessive amount of flour products – 474 grams per day, at the same time, the level of consumption of dairy products is several times lower than recommended, as well as liquid (500 ml per day). Ukrainians consume extremely few legumes – 9 grams against the recommended 75 grams and only a quarter of the recommended amount of nuts and seeds – 8 grams against 30 grams.
According to the study, Ukrainians consume twice the recommended amount of salt – 9.7 grams compared to the recommended 5 grams of the World Health Organization (WHO). Men consume 17% more salt than women – 10.7 grams versus 8.9 grams.
The average adult sugar intake is 46 grams per day. Only about a quarter of the adult population adheres to recommendations for optimal sugar intake – less than 25 grams per day (25% of men and 23% of women). Some 40% of Ukrainians consume from 25 grams to 50 grams of sugar per day. A high level of sugar consumption – more than 50 grams per day is found for more than a third of the population (35%), of which 12% consume more than 75 grams of sugar per day.
The study involved 1,232 people aged 1 to 60 years. The examination of the study was provided by the Association of Dietitians of Ukraine.
