There are three different calendars in a fruit business and confusing them is the most common planning error a new buyer makes.
The harvest calendar says when the fruit comes off the tree or bush. The processing calendar says when the freezer, the drier or the evaporator is actually running that fruit, which can be the same week or several months later. The buying calendar says when a buyer has to commit, which is usually well before either of the other two.
Harvest windows
| Crop | Harvest window | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Strawberry | Late May to early July | Short, weather sensitive |
| Sour cherry | Late June to late July | The largest Ukrainian stone fruit crop |
| Gooseberry, green | Mid to late June | Separate contract from ripe picking |
| Raspberry, summer | Late June to early August | Second autumn crop from September |
| Blackcurrant | July | Concentrated, machine harvested |
| Gooseberry, ripe | Early July to early August | Softer, sweeter, different product |
| Apricot | July | Very short; frost risk in spring is the main variable |
| Sweet cherry | June to July | Larger fresh share than sour cherry |
| Peach and nectarine | Late July to early September | Southern and western regions |
| Plum | August to late September | Fresh, frozen and drying grades diverge |
| Elderberry | Late August to late September | One to two weeks per stand |
| Apple | August to late October | Long window; storage varieties extend it |
| Pear | August to early October | Ripened after picking, not processed direct |
| Cranberry, wild | Late September to first frost | Second spring gathering of over-wintered fruit |
Two features of that table drive everything else. The windows are short – most crops have a usable window of two to six weeks – and they overlap heavily in July and August, which is when processing capacity is the binding constraint rather than fruit.
The processing calendar
Fruit that is frozen is frozen at harvest. There is no alternative; the quality clock starts the moment the fruit is picked and a delay of a day is visible in the finished product. So for frozen lines the processing calendar equals the harvest calendar, and capacity in July is the scarcest resource in the Ukrainian fruit industry.
Fruit that is dried, pressed or concentrated is more flexible. Apple can be stored in controlled atmosphere and pressed through the winter. Plum for prunes is dried at harvest but the sorting, rehydration and packing steps run all year. Elderberry is frozen at harvest and pressed to order over the following twelve months.
Pear is the interesting exception in the other direction: it is picked hard, held in controlled atmosphere, and deliberately ripened in batches before processing, so its processing window is later than its harvest window by design.
If you are buying a frozen product, ask when it was frozen, not when it was delivered. Two lots delivered in the same month can be eleven months apart in age.
The buying calendar
This is the one that catches people out. For most Ukrainian fruit, programme volume is negotiated before or during harvest, not afterwards.
- January to March. Contract discussions for the coming season on berries and stone fruit. Organic volume in particular is allocated here.
- April to May. Frost risk resolves. Apricot and early stone fruit availability becomes clear, and prices move accordingly.
- June to August. Harvest. Spot volume exists but capacity is full and a new buyer is competing with established programmes.
- September to October. Apple, pear, plum and cranberry contracting. The last realistic window to secure specialty crops for the year.
- November to December. Frozen store is at its fullest. Best time to buy spot volume and to run trial pallets.
- By late winter. Specialty and small crops – gooseberry, elderberry, wild cranberry – are largely gone.
What a frozen store actually does
The frozen store converts a six-week harvest into a twelve-month delivery schedule, and that is genuinely valuable. It does not convert a bad crop year into a good one and it does not create volume that was never picked.
Two practical consequences follow.
First, availability late in the season is a function of how much was frozen, not of demand. In a short crop year the store empties early, and it empties first on the specialty items with small planted areas.
Second, a long time in store is not free. Even at a well-controlled minus 18 degrees Celsius, quality drifts slowly – colour, aroma, and eventually surface dehydration. The Codex code of practice CXC 8-1976 covers handling; what it cannot cover is the commercial question of how old a lot you are prepared to accept. Put a maximum age at delivery in the contract if it matters to you.
Planning a first year
- Decide your annual volume by product and by month before you enquire.
- Approach suppliers in the first quarter for the coming harvest, not in the autumn.
- Run trial pallets in November or December, when store is full and attention is available.
- Commit programme volume in the first quarter of the following year, having validated the trial.
- Keep a spot allowance for the November to January window, which is where the opportunistic buying is.
For the underlying grading questions, see the grading guide. For the format decision on frozen fruit, see the IQF and block comparison.