In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, we take a look at Poland’s blueberry industry. Each week, the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic, visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

Poland has been a key supplier of blueberries to Europe for a long time, but the export dynamics are shifting in 2025. Even though the country is still one of the top producers in Europe, rising domestic demand and competition from other countries are quickly reshaping its position in the market. Between 2018 and 2022, Poland more than doubled its cultivated blueberry area, from 5,800 to 11,900 hectares. Annual production now stands between 60,000 and 68,000 tons. But this rapid growth has come with fragmentation.

The average Polish blueberry farm is just 1.4 hectares, which limits efficiency and complicates the adoption of technologies like mechanized harvesting. As a result, yields remain modest, averaging about 5.7 tons per hectare, well below the global average of nearly 9 tons. Poland has traditionally exported large volumes of fresh blueberries to key markets such as Germany, the UK, and Scandinavia.

However, in recent seasons, that trend has begun to reverse. Domestic consumption is climbing sharply, fueled by the fruit’s popularity and a growing expectation for year-round availability. This shift is so pronounced that in 2022/2023, Poland’s blueberry trade balance turned slightly negative, imports outpaced exports by €6.4 million.

Blueberries are now arriving in Poland from Spain, Morocco, Peru, and South Africa to satisfy off-season demand. Some of the reported export volume from Poland also includes re-exports of Ukrainian blueberries. However, Ukrainian farmers are increasingly choosing to ship directly to EU buyers instead of going through Polish middlemen.

Because of this, the amount of re-exports is going down, and Poland's net export profile is getting smaller. Another worry is the state of the labor market. Most people still pick crops by hand, and a lack of workers has made things even harder for farmers. People are looking into mechanization, but because most farms are small, many producers can't justify spending money on equipment. Meanwhile, rising costs for everything from materials to labor are cutting into profits.

Global competition isn’t helping. Peru has dramatically increased shipments to the EU, and countries like China are boosting domestic production, reducing the need for imports. Prices are under pressure, and Polish growers are being forced to adapt. To remain competitive, the industry is investing in higher-yield cultivars and better post-harvest infrastructure.

There’s also a push to diversify export destinations, with markets like China and the Middle East on the radar, although volumes there remain limited for now. Others are focusing on quality, emphasizing premium fruit for health-conscious European consumers and specialty retailers.

Despite the challenges, Poland is unlikely to disappear from the global blueberry map. But its role is clearly changing. By 2030, production may exceed 70,000 tons, but more of that fruit will likely be eaten at home. For a country once known for flooding Europe with berries every July, the future looks more balanced and more focused on feeding its own growing appetite.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.

(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.

(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.

All pricing for domestic US produce represents the spot market at Shipping Point (i.e. packing house/climate controlled warehouse, etc.). For imported fruit, the pricing data represents the spot market at Port of Entry. You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 21 commodities we currently track.