During the final event of 2023 called “Berry Market 2023”, organized by the association of Moldovan berry producers “Pomuşoarele Moldovei”, FAO economist Andriy Yarmak presented an assessment of the state, trends and development prospects of the market world of berries. According to EastFruit, during the expert's presentation, several surprising facts were demonstrated to the participants.

In particular, participants were surprised to learn that global berry trade surpassed banana trade in 2021 and continued to maintain the lead in 2022 despite the first drop in export volumes in many years. Overall, exports of fresh and frozen berries at the end of 2022 generated revenue for exporters of about $13.700 billion, while trade in bananas during the same year amounted to only about $13.700 billion. The berry trade grew at an average rate of 9,8%, or $1.200 billion, per year, significantly faster than the overall fruit category, which grew at an average rate of 4,3%, or $4.500 billion. dollars, per year.

The expert also noted a growing gap between fresh blueberries and fresh strawberries in global trade. In 2022, the share of fresh blueberries in the global trade of fresh and frozen berries reached 34%. For the first time in 2022, blueberries entered the top five products of the fruit sector in terms of export volumes, equaling oranges in sales revenue.

«Fresh strawberries also maintain a prominent position in global trade, mainly due to a series of positive factors. First of all, strawberries are the most common berry in the world and are grown literally everywhere, while blueberries and raspberries remain rare exotic species in many countries. Secondly, the acceleration of cultivation helped strawberries maintain their position, as it significantly improved the taste, appearance and transportability of the berries. The third important factor is the transition to growing significant volumes of strawberries indoors, which makes it possible to extend the season, reduce the use of phytosanitary products and improve the quality and taste of the berries,” says Andriy Yarmak.

He also noted that raspberry exports are growing at the fastest pace in the berry segment: they increased by an average of 20% annually in 2018-2022. In comparison, fresh blueberry exports grew on average 12% each year during the same period. "However, the volume of trade in fresh raspberries still exceeds the volume of trade in frozen raspberries in terms of value, because fresh raspberries are the most expensive of the mass-grown berries, and prices for frozen raspberries periodically fall to extremely low levels,” states Andriy Yarmak. due to its cyclical nature