The president of Poland’s National Fruit & Vegetable Producers Association has said the situation for the country’s fruit exporters remains critical because of Russia’s ongoing ban on imports from the EU.
Speaking to Polish trade news website Sady Ogrody, Witold Bogota said the main problem was the lack of real alternative markets for key export products including apples – something which required government support in order to find a solution.
“Producers and companies involved in the trade believe that around 10-15 per cent of our apple varieties are suitable for new markets,” he explained.
About half of Poland’s total apple production goes to the fresh market, of which more than a million tonnes is usually exported – and prior to the ban, the bulk of it went to Russia.
Bogota also suggested that, were the blockade to be lifted, Russia would not begin to take the same volume of fruit from Poland as it did previously.
Better organisation among apple exporters was also urgently needed, he added.
