🌰How did Ukraine quietly become the world's fourth largest producer of walnuts?
The KSE Institute's Agrocenter team investigated the paradoxes of an industry that could at the same time propel the country to the forefront of exporters. However, the vast majority of the product is grown in private households. This radically differs the Ukrainian production model from global practices. Insufficiently high standards of production and storage, as a result, create problems with product quality. State and donor support, in the form of consultations, seedlings, and grants for modernization can significantly expand the industry and increase the sales and revenues of exporters.
🔎What is worth knowing:
Walnuts are one of Ukraine's most promising export crops. They could become the flagship product of Ukraine's agricultural integration into the EU. Even despite the war, fragmented production, and political challenges, our producers are able to compete with leading European producers. To do this, businesses need support with seedlings and advice. At the same time, the industry needs improvement to meet EU requirements 🇪🇺
In 2024–2025, Ukraine ranked fourth place in the world in walnut production (~101,000 tons), behind only China, the US, and Chile. In 2023, Ukrainian walnut exports were estimated at $77 mln. Despite the fact that the industry is only now gradually commercializing. So far, it has been quite unofficial — over 95% of nuts are grown in private households. This is a unique production model, completely opposite to, for example, the American one, which uses large industrial orchards in the US 🇺🇸
The state and donor support can really help the industry grow. For example, the “eRobota” grant program, which covers up to 70% of the costs of planting orchards, has already put billions of hryvnias into nut crops. As a result, they have become one of the top supported horticultural sectors. Previous experience gives cause for optimism about expansion: between 2018 and 2023, almost 6,000 hectares of new orchards were planted with state subsidies 🌳
An additional advantage for nut exports is their environmental friendliness. The crop has a low carbon footprint during cultivation — 0.76 kg CO₂/kg compared to 3.56 kg CO₂/kg for almonds. This means that walnuts can be positioned as a climate-friendly superfood 🌍
The export value of nuts increases approximately fourfold due to processing ⏲️ Shelled nuts are sold at almost four times more expensive than unshelled ones. In 2023, 72% of Ukrainian walnut exports were shelled. The main markets are the EU (58% of revenue), Turkey, France, and Romania 🇪🇺🇹🇷🇫🇷🇷🇴
❗️To accelerate the sector's development and increase exporters' profits, two problems must be solved first:
— shortage of high-quality seedlings;
— low production and storage standards, which affect product quality.
It should be noted that importing seedlings doesn't solve the first problem. Seedlings imported from France and Moldova mostly don't take root well in Ukrainian soil. The second issue is mold and toxins that form as a result of uneven drying or improper storage — a key barrier to increasing the industry's efficiency and deeper integration into the EU.
📄 For more read the full version "Ukraine’s walnut industry. Volume 1: On the edge of global growth"
