The blueberry production in Poland may have been affected by the weather in certain areas, but this isn't the case for the growers associated with BerryTrade, says Sandra Stefaniak-Syguła, co-owner of the Polish berry trader: "In European terms, Poland is quite a big country with many blueberry production areas. Rumor has it that some regions in the North or in the West part of our country have been affected by either high temperature amplitudes in the winter and spring period, or by the May night frosts. However, we haven't heard about any panic from the side of Berrytrade growers so far, who are located mostly around Warsaw."
"The biggest difference when we compare the years 2024 and 2025 is the start of the season. Last year, we started simultaneously with German producers around mid-June, but this season we shouldn't overlap so much, as the difference between these origins is around two-to-three weeks. "
Stefaniak-Syguła states that a decrease in production is expected, but mostly for the early varieties. "Some growers from Western or Northern Poland reported a lot of damage on early varieties of blueberries, such as Duke, and expect a better yield on mid- or late varieties. For the entire Polish blueberry production, it may mean that the total volume of blueberries this year will be about 20% lower. However, this correction may help to keep the market in balance, because there were many new hectares planted in Poland, especially in the years just before the Covid pandemic."
The peak in terms of export volumes will also occur a bit later compared to last year, but Stefaniak-Syguła says that this is normal for the Polish blueberry season. "Our blueberry season this year starts about 1,5 to 2 weeks later than it did last year. We expect the first significant volumes of blueberries to be exported around the 7th or 10th of July, so this scenario brings us back to back to normality. Last season started sooner than ever before and also finished way earlier than it typically should. We were done with exports around mid-August already. This year start of blueberry season is very typical for the Polish climate."
"This year's Polish blueberry sales curve seems more promising than the previous year, due to the Serbian season starting early and ending soon. Additionally, German production has already started with big volumes and hopefully will finish sooner than last year. Poland shares its production window also with Romania and Ukraine. We acknowledge this competition and exchange the know-how with our friends from these countries. But it is also fair to say that Poland benefits from its proximity to the biggest consuming countries, such as Germany or the UK. Every hour of transit time saved in the middle of the hectic blueberry season is literally worth gold."
Polish blueberry growers are a bit concerned, as they've heard rumors about new demands from retailers for the 2026 crops, for which they will not have much time to prepare, Stefaniak-Syguła explains: "The European Green Deal is demanding more and more formalities to be fulfilled. Especially from the side of our German customers, we are hearing of a new demand of their retailers for the year 2026, that is, a GlobalGAP SPRING certificate. Polish growers are worried about this, because there's little time to prepare for it, additionally it seems that even certification bodies in Poland aren't informed enough about it. I believe that the rise of formalities in foreign countries will incentivize Polish blueberry producers to sell more and more blueberries locally, since the Polish market is already able to absorb really big volumes, not requiring as many formalities to be completed, while still paying competitive prices."
"This blueberry season should be a breakthrough for Polish blueberry exporters because it's the first year in which we can export our blueberries to huge markets such as India and China. It took Berrytrade and its associated growers a good couple of months to complete all formal requirements and pass demanding audits to be on a list of exporters and growers allowed to export to Asia. Volume-wise wise there is no doubt that the biggest amount of berries will be sold by us locally, either to Polish retailers or to the customers based in other European countries," Stefaniak-Syguła concludes.
For more information:
Sandra Stefaniak-Syguła
Berrytrade
Tel: +48 692 640 720
Email: [email protected]
www.berry-trade.com