Red king in Poland
Red beet is a popular vegetable cultivated in Poland.
The national harvest in the last five years has been, depending on the weather conditions, at the level of 280–336 thousand tonnes, which gives our country the first position in the EU production of red beet. In 2020, the share of Poland in the EU production was nearly 40%.
Red beet is willingly consumed in Poland. This vegetable is commonly appreciated for its health-promoting and therapeutic properties. Red beet is light and low in calorie. Owing to the high content of fibre, it has a positive effect on the digestive processes. The mineral salts contained in it have a de-acidifying effect. Due to its storing durability, it can be eaten fresh almost all year long. It is a valuable raw material commonly used in the processing industry for the production of dried and frozen products, various types of canned products, beet and horseradish salad as well as drinking and concentrated juices and more recently, to the growing extent – for the production of natural dyes.
The foreign sale of fresh red beet is relatively small. Over the last five years, the export of red beet has ranged from 14 to 25 thousand tonnes, which accounted, on average, for 7% of the harvest in Poland. The export value was between EUR 8 million and EUR 14.5 million We sell red beet mainly in the EU market. In 2020, the EU countries were customers of around 94% of the volume of red beet exported from Poland. This product range was purchased mainly by customers in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany. Ukraine was the largest customer of red beet among third countries.