Many Polish exporters have seen the bright side of the current ban from Russia, which remains the country’s most important market by far. They argue that Polish companies have been far too dependent on Russia for their sales.
“Putin has opened the eyes of Polish exporters to other markets,” stated one. “He has taught Poles that they need the best quality apples, not the second-class fruit that Russia wants.”
The absence of the Russian market has certainly hit Poland’s apple growers and exporters hard, despite a surge in domestic sales as the nation’s consumers showed solidarity with their farmers. The true impact was not expected to be felt until early 2015.
“The apple crop was very big in Poland,” said one exporter, “and the European crop should be the biggest ever at around 12m tonnes. It was hard enough shifting 10m tonnes last year. A lot of apples will have to go into storage, so in January there may be extremely high volumes on the market. We know there’s a problem, but it is difficult to see the scale of the problem at the moment.”
Dominik Wozniak of cooperative Rajpol believes the improvements that the Polish apple sector has shown in recent years will stand the country’s exporters in good stead as they seek alternatives to Russia, including the Gulf market.
“Quality is the most important thing,” he said. “It is also crucial to have a proper traceability system. We have all the necessary certifications at Rajpol, including GlobalGAP, IPM and HACCP.”
In the last ten years, Wozniak stated, Poland has seen major developments in its cold storage infrastructure, as well as in high-tech sorting machines.
“Five years ago, when we would go to Italian packhouses, we were always very impressed with the machinery they were using,” he said. “Now when they visit us, they are also impressed. Last year, we opened up the most modern facility in Poland for checking quality.”
But it is not just apples. Poland is also one of the biggest producers in Europe of berries.
Polskie Jagody, which specialises in blueberries under its BeFruit brand, and has also just started growing strawberries, contemplated entering the Russian market but decided to target the domestic market for growth instead, according to Agata Malkiewicz.
“In 2014, we entered the Polish market, having exported almost 100 per cent of our production in previous years,” she said. “We have launched a new brand for our fresh blueberries and have been selling in Poland quite successfully. We have also formed new relationships with Polish supermarket chains. This season, we also sent several shipments to Japan, and we are confident that this cooperation will grow in the future.'
