Turkey becomes Ukraine's major supplier of exotic fruit

Ukraine in 2020 boosted fruit imports by 18%, to US$795 million, mainly due to citrus, bananas, and other exotic fruits, with Turkey being its major supplier.

Read alsoSpring price hikes: Experts name foodstuffs to be affectedThat is according to a statement by the National Scientific Center "Institute of Agrarian Economy," published on its website on March 16.

"Turkey has remained a major supplier of this type of products to Ukraine in recent years. Over 269,000 tonnes of fruit was imported from there last year. Turkey's share was 28.8% of domestic fruit imports in value terms last year," the statement said.

Also, Ukrainian companies bought fruit in Ecuador (12.9%), Greece (6.2%), Costa Rica (5.8%), Spain (5.4%), and Egypt (5.0%).

Fruit in demand in Ukraine

Traditionally, citrus fruit and bananas were in the highest demand among fruit and berry products in Ukraine, as they accounted for over half of such imports in monetary terms.

"If over half of citrus fruit imports steadily originate to Turkey, Ukraine bought bananas mainly in Latin America, in particular, in Ecuador and Costa Rica, which both provided about 80% of such supplies last year," the report said.

Background

Ukraine in 2020 reduced exports of agricultural products to the European Union countries by 10.8%, to EUR 6.53 billion.