International Online Conference “Organic Export Vision: Ukraine 2026” dedicated to key trends, practical cases, and tools for the development of organic exports from Ukraine was held on 20 January 2026.
The event was attended by 197 participants — Ukrainian organic exporters, international importers and partners, organic sector organisations, representatives of state authorities, certification bodies, international technical assistance programmes, and expert institutions.
🎥 Watch the full conference recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EU1gLv9wacU
The conference programme was built around a combination of analytical data on organic exports from Ukraine, practical experience of Ukrainian exporters, and positions of international importers working with Ukrainian organic products, as well as presentation of export support tools and announcements of plans for 2026.
The event was opened by Olena Deineko, Chair of the Board of Organic Initiative Public Association. In her opening remarks, she outlined the focus of the conference — export of organic products as a key area of development of the Ukrainian organic sector, as well as the practical component of the programme: analytics, experience of exporters and international buyers.
Oleksiy Grushetskyi, Deputy Director at State Institution “Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office” (EEPO), moderated the welcome part and the first panels of the conference. In his opening speech, he focused on the importance of systematic cooperation among business, state institutions, and international partners for the development of higher value added exports and emphasised the practical format of the conference and the importance of practical dialogue among exporters, importers, and export support institutions.
Taras Vysotskyi, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, in his welcoming speech, noted that Ukraine’s organic sector has maintained its export focus even in times of war. He emphasised the importance of sustained international support for organic production and exports, in particular from Switzerland, and that the state continues to work on improving the legal framework for organic production and trade.
In his speech, Igor Kravchenko, Local Programme Manager of QFTP, noted that in the current phase the Swiss-Ukrainian Programme QFTP continues to support the export potential of the Ukrainian organic sector. He sincerely thanked the partners: State Institution “Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office”, Organic Standard, Organic Initiative, and Green Dossier for their joint work. Igor Kravchenko also stressed that over the years, QFTP has actively promoted the participation of Ukrainian organic producers in key international exhibitions such as BIOFACH, Gulfood, SIAL, and Anuga, as wells as development of international policy dialogue by supporting participation of official delegations in the international exhibitions. Thanks to joint partnership work, Ukraine’s organic exports, despite all the challenges of a full-scale war, do not only continue to operate, but also demonstrate resilience and development. This is a strong signal to international partners and a clear confirmation of the potential of the Ukrainian organic sector.
Tetiana Hetman, Export Promotion Manager, SIPPO Ukraine, emphasised that the SIPPO Programme works with business associations to strengthen their capacity to support exports. Exports are critical for the survival and development of Ukraine’s organic sector, given the limited domestic market. In cooperation with the Organic Initiative, business missions, analytical studies and sectoral roadmaps have already been implemented. In 2026, further development of analytical and export services for organic exporters is planned.
Pavlo Ladetskyi, National Technical Coordinator of GQSP Ukraine (UNIDO), stressed that Switzerland supports the berry and nut sectors (including organic producers) through the GQSP Ukraine Programme. He emphasised the importance of strengthening quality and standard compliance in the berry and nut sector for better trade for smarter recovery, as well as the need for cooperation among all stakeholders in the Ukrainian sector. He invited the participants to cooperate and attend future trainings dedicated to implementation of GLOBALG.A.P., IFSS 22000 and ORGANIC standards, which will help to increase competitiveness and gain access to foreign markets.
In the panel “Analytics and Study of Organic Exports from Ukraine”, Sergiy Galashevskyy, general Manager of Organic Standard, presented the results of a study of organic export from Ukraine, which became the basis for further discussions on market trends, export structure, and development prospects. According to the study, in 2024, the number of organic operators was 436. Sales of organic products from Ukraine to foreign markets totalled 243 thousand tonnes, worth USD 141 million. In particular, 93% of the total trade volume was with European countries, of which 84% was with the EU, while North America accounted for 6% of the global volume. The top 10 most exported organic products from Ukraine are soybeans, corn, wheat, sunflower cake, frozen blueberries, rapeseed, sunflower oil, flax seeds, unrefined sunflower oil, and hulled millet.
Olga Gvozdyova, Advisor to the Director of the State Institution “Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office”, presented the state support tools for exporters, including an export readiness test, consulting and mentoring programmes, analytical sections of the Diia.Business portal, market guides for more than 50 countries and exclusive dashboards on organic export to the EU, as well as the Catalogue of Ukrainian Exporters as a tool for promotion on the international markets.
Kseniia Guliyeva, Export Services Coordinator of the Organic Initiative PA, presented 6 studies — export roadmaps for the following six products and product groups: organic legumes, organic gluten-free products, organic bakery ingredients, berries (organic blueberries, organic frozen raspberries), and organic dairy products.
The studies cover sector audit (production, processing, exports), selection of target markets (including the EU, Switzerland, and the UK), analysis of supply chains and buyers, and requirements of the respective markets, scenarios for different stakeholders (farmers, cooperatives, processors), practical step-by-step plans for entering the market. This analytics was created with the support of the SIPPO Ukraine Programme. The Organic Initiative will present and publish the studies in March 2026.
The panel “Ukrainian Organic Exporters: Trends and Prospects” was presented by:
- Viktoriia Vasylchenko, Chief Commercial Director, Agro-Industrial Group Arnika
- Olena Stretovych, General Director, Organic Milk LLC
- Liubov Mykhailova, Founder, Chemex Ltd (ProOrganica)
- Andrii Shvydniuk, Director, Sav Agro Partner LLC
- Maksym Natanzon, Founder and Owner, Brain Box LLC
The following key points were highlighted by the practitioners of organic exports from Ukraine: exports remain the key sales channel for organic products; success on the foreign markets requires consistent quality, compliance with certification requirements and long-term relationships with partners; market analytics and clear product positioning play an important role.
In their speeches, Ukrainian exporters talked about the constant challenges in their export activities and shared their practical experience of adapting to them, maintaining product quality and working with international partners in times of war and change.
The panel “Trends in Organic Import from Ukraine: International Buyers’ Perspective” was attended by:
- Dirk Terwel, Director, Origin & Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Marina Kanevski, CEO, Grow the World (Czech Republic)
- Amos Ramsauer, CEO, Agriprotein GmbH (Germany)
- Aurimas Sutas, Member of the Board, EkoFarm (Lithuania)
- Volodymyr Kosheliev, CEO, VFI Oils For Life Ukraine (Austria)
- Andrii Kaminski, Director, AgriBio Ukraine LLC (Italy)
Among the main messages from importers: interest in Ukrainian organic products from the European markets is consistently high. Readiness of Ukrainian partners to meet the projected volumes and stability of supplies are also important for importers. Importers pay special attention to the stability of product quality, its clear parameters, and compliance with the declared standards. All import specialists stressed the importance of long-term partnerships rather than ad hoc sales and one-off contracts. They also emphasised the need for transparent communication between Ukrainian suppliers and international buyers, as well as clear processes of document flow, certification, and logistics.
During the panel “Useful Information and Announcements for Organic exporters for 2026” the following information was presented:
- Announcements of exhibition pavilions for organic exporters in 2026 (Ukrainian Berries Association)
- Plans of Organic Standard and Control Union certification bodies for 2026
- Announcements of export services of Organic Initiative Public Association for 2026.
The international conference “Organic Export Vision: Ukraine 2026” is organised by the State Institution “Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office” (EEPO, Ukraine), state project Diia.Business together with the Organic Initiative Public Association in partnership with the Organic Standard certification body under the patronage of the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine with the support of Switzerland within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian Programme “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” (QFTP) implemented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) in partnership with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland).
OrganicInfo.ua is the information partner of the event.
