Ukrainian horticultural sector. Results of 2025

In this interview toSEEDS the President of the Ukrainian Fruit and Vegetable Association Taras Bashtannyk told which of the crops became the most profitable in 2025 in Ukraine.

Open field vegetables

Vegetables traditional for Ukrainian cuisine -  Borsch set (cabbage, beet root, carrots, onions and potatoes)

I will say right away that statistics is not officially kept on these crops because of the war. And unofficially, even though the year is ending, it has transitional volumes, so it is not so easy to balance and count. But we can state that in Ukraine there is an overproduction of vegetables of the entire borsch set: onions, cabbage, carrots, beets and potatoes. Absolutely all of them. The reason is simple - the prices for all these crops were very high a year ago. Accordingly, chasing the profit the farmers increased areas for these crops this year and as a result  there is overproduction. Unfortunately, this is the price the farmers and producers pay for lack of coordination and long-term planning.

Those, who operate large, high-quality vegetable storage facilities and will be able to keep the vegetables at least until the end of winter -  when the process are usually higher, can avoid losses or even be in positive balance. Now market price for vegetables are lower then the production costs and for some crops several time lower.  

Greenhouse vegetables

In Ukraine, there are several greenhouse complexes that grow vegetables, primarily cucumbers and tomatoes. Of course, the price for these vegetables is high in winter due to too expensive energy resources. Local produce is often of better quality than  imported f.e. from Turkey, but it is also twice as expensive. Therefore, the situation with greenhouse production in Ukraine, in principle, is not new, it has not changed in 2025 and will not change in the coming years.

After the transformation of the vegetable industry as a result of the war and occupation of South of Ukraine, the supply chains of vegetables, both open field and covered, have become shorter. There is no longer a situation where all early vegetables are grown in one region (Kakhovka, South of Ukraine) and transported from there throughout the country. Nowadays each regional center is supplied with local high-quality early or off-season products. Support of tunnel production of vegetables has its positive effect, not only for extending the season and diversifying production in Ukraine, but also for replacing lost volumes and production areas in the South of Ukraine.

Apples

The situation with apples is better than with veggies. On average in Ukraine the yield of 2025 was clearly better than the previous year. Price is also good, 20-30 UAH / 1 kg, not very high, but sufficient for professional apple producers to be profitable. Export price is even better, but it entails additional expenses for exporter.  We hope with this positive results apple growers will be able to invest in building storages for the next year. Because lack of storage capacities as well as post-harvest processing is a bottle next for Ukrainian horti sector.

Strawberries

The strawberry yield this year was about half from the last year, which was also not that good. Therefore, in terms of yield, the year was unsuccessful. For some varieties, in particular, early ones, losses generally reached 90% caused by late spring frosts. However, the high price partially compensated these losses to producers. On average, last year the wholesale price for garden strawberries was about 60 UAH per kilogram, this year it was already 120-130 UAH/kg. Both fresh and frozen Ukrainian strawberries are supplied to the local market. What are the expectations for new strawberry season? -  Good yield. The strawberry areas in Ukraine are not large so export is insignificant. Moreover, unfortunately, Ukrainian production costs are higher than in the countries of North Africa, such as Morocco and Egypt.

Blueberries

This year, unfortunately, yield losses of blueberries were high: on average 20-30%. In Zakarpattya, losses reached 90%. For late varieties the situation was a bit better, however for mid-varieties like Blue Gold, losses reached 100%. This resulted in the higher price (+ 40-50% to the 2024 price). Therefore, this allowed producers to balance the yield loss.  Although this year Ukraine did not reach any record results, there is a very good dynamic in the development of blueberry exports from Ukraine to European countries and UK. We believe that in the coming years, Ukraine will take a leading role for blueberry export in Europe.

Raspberries

For the second year in row Ukraine shows record numbers for export of frozen raspberries. However 60-70 thousand tons per marketing year is not the limit for Ukraine and in value it can be even better than in volume. Due to late spring frost growers lost part of summer yield, but the price was good. For raspberries for processing the average price was 110-120 UAH/kg. The situation is optimistic for raspberries and this is good dynamic for the last 5 years.

Source: Підсумки 2025 року: перевиробництво овочів та рекордний експорт замороженої малини - УПОА Українська плодоовочева асоціація 

Тунельне вирощування компенсує втрату овочівництва на півдні України — КУРКУЛЬ