With its favorable conditions for organic agriculture, Ukraine has become an important supplier of organic products for Western markets in the last few years.
As of 2017 Ukraine had 504 organic operators the majority of which were certified according to the EU organic standard which is 15,5 % more than in 2016. The estimated data from the certification body Organic Standard showed an increase up to 588 organic operators for 2018.
Currently, the main organic export products from Ukraine are cereals, oil crops, pulses, wild collected berries, mushrooms, nuts, and herbs.
So, in 2017 organic export from Ukraine reached 264 thousand tonnes with the export value about 90 million US dollars with corn being the most exported product (100 thousand tonnes), followed by wheat (58 thousand tonnes), barley (23 thousand tonnes) and sunflower (12 thousand tonnes).
The biggest importer of Ukrainian organic products are the EU countries, among which the Netherlands take the leading position for the last couple of years (115 thousand tonnes of imported organic products from Ukraine as of 2017). The next three positions were taken by Germany, Austria and Italy with 37, 29 and 21 thousand tonnes respectively in 2017 with Austria increasing the volumes if compared with the 14 thousand tonnes of 2016. Along the EU Ukrainian producers also export to the USA, Canada, Australia and some Asian countries.
Following the global trend “regional + organic” Ukraine has also taken the first steps and introduced exporters who have both organic and local labelling (“from the Ukrainian Carpathians”).
As for the domestic market, the assortment available in supermarkets and specialty shops is still not full. The biggest challenge for the domestic market is limited purchase power and a low awareness of organic among consumers.
Nevertheless, the newly applied (2.08.2019) Organic Law should significantly contribute to the development of the Ukrainian organic market as its main task is to define the basic principles and requirements for organic production, trade and labelling of organic products. Which in its turn could increase awareness and trust in Ukrainian organic products both on the domestic market and abroad.
Source: OrganicInUkraine Factsheet
