ORGANIC'24: TOP 10 Most Recognisable Organic Brands in Ukraine
Ukraine is a powerful player on the international organic market. The country has been among the top 5 exporters of organic products to the European Union for several consecutive years. In a relatively short period of time, Ukrainian companies have established an international supply chain and are already shipping their products to more than 40 countries. Ukrainian organic producers export more than 60 types of products.
At the same time, the domestic market development is no less important. Supporting and developing domestic brands will help to strengthen the economy and improve the quality of life of Ukrainians.
In 2023, there was a positive trend in the total volume of organic sales on the domestic market of Ukraine. New organic products appeared on the market. Sales of organic fresh vegetables, fruits, berries and other fresh products increased significantly. The total volume of organic sales on the domestic market of Ukraine in 2023 increased by almost 15% compared to 2022.
The ranking of the most famous and recognised organic brands in Ukraine, which has been conducted for four consecutive years by BrandStory in cooperation with Organic Standard certification body, shows a high level of brand awareness among consumers. It includes the companies that are leaders in sales and have a significant impact on the market.
The material is available in Ukrainian
TOP 10 producers by sales of organic products in the domestic market of Ukraine:
1st place: Organic Milk
Organic Milk is a Ukrainian brand that has been producing organic dairy products for over a decade.
The plant owned by the brand uses its own raw materials to produce more than 60 organic dairy products. These include milk, kefir, sour cream, drinking and spoon yoghurts, various cheeses, vanilla curd mass, condensed milk, butter and a range of lactose-free products.
The brand's symbol is a well-known “circle” on the product labelling. This symbol embodies two aspects: the name “Organic Milk” and the idea of a closed, continuous production cycle. Every day, about 30 tonnes of fresh milk is transformed into a variety of products.
Product quality is a guarantee of the use of certified organic animal feed, free access to outdoor areas and automated, non-contact milking and bottling. All stages of production are certified as organic in accordance with the requirements of the organic legislations of Ukraine and other countries, including the EU, and are controlled by Organic Standard.
Last year, the company focused on expanding its export markets, including Poland, Italy, Germany, the USA, Moldova, and the UAE.
“The plans for the next year include expanding the range of products on the domestic market and expanding export markets,” says Olena Stretovych, Director of Organic Milk LLC.
Products under the Organic Milk brand are available in all specialised organic stores and large national supermarkets in Ukraine, such as Goodwine, Winetime, Metro, Silpo, Auchan, Velyka Kyshenia, Fora, Novus, MegaMarket and others.
More information about the company can be found in the article here: "The Organic Revolution: How Organic Milk Creates New Standards and Tastes"
2nd place: Danube Agrarian
The Danube Agrarian farm in Odesa region was established in 2013.
It is one of the largest organic farms in Ukraine, cultivating around 2,000 hectares of land. The farm specialises in growing organic vegetables, fruits, cereals, melons and root crops, including sweet potatoes. It also produces animal products.
Danube Agrarian actively develops organic livestock and poultry farming, raising sheep, chickens and ducks. It also has an apiary. In 2023, the farm had its status of an organic honey producer confirmed.
This company is one of the few national companies that produces more than 200 types of products. All products are certified by Organic Standard for compliance with organic production requirements.
“The company plans to launch its own processing line to produce jams, juices, fruit rolls, etc.”, says Pavlo Barbashov, Co-owner of Danube Agrarian LLC.
Products under the Danube Agrarian brand are widely represented in the Ukrainian supermarket chains such as Goodwine, WineTime, Silpo, Novus, Auchan, Velyka Kyshenia, and MegaMarket.
In addition, the products are exported to retail stores in the EU countries, such as Germany, Romania, and Poland. Their products can also be found in Lidl stores in Switzerland, Canada, and the United States.
Website: www.dunagrarian.com
3rd place: Staryi Porytsk
Staryi Porytsk farming enterprise was founded in Volyn in 2009. In 2012, it received its first official certificate of compliance with EU organic legislation from Organic Standard.
The farm is engaged in crop production, livestock production, and milk processing. The farm uses high-tech organic production methods, and the cows are kept in good conditions and fed with selected organic feed.
The Staryi Porytsk brand produces more than 70 types of organic products, including cereals and dairy products such as cheese, yoghurt, butter, kefir, fermented baked milk, and pasteurised milk of various fat content. The range also includes organic semi-finished products such as cottage cheese pancakes and lazy varenyky (cottage cheese dumplings).
“The company plans to start processing meat with the prospect of constructing a small facility for this purpose, similar to the one we have now for milk processing”, says Valentyn Obshtyr, owner of Staryi Porytsk.
Their products can be purchased in stores, including Silpo, or ordered from online stores specialising in healthy food.
Website: www.porytsk.com
More information about the company can be found in the article here: “Architect of positive changes: Valentyn Obshtyr, the owner of Staryi Porytsk”
4th place: Skvira Organic
The Skvira Organic brand belongs to Skvyrskyi Grain Processing Factory, which was founded in 1931. Since 2014, the company has been producing certified organic products.
Skvira Organic is one of Ukraine’s largest producers of dietary flour and cereals, with organic and gluten-free cereals, flour and flakes in its range.
In total, their product range includes 60 organic products. The brand’s organic products are certified by Organic Standard in accordance with the requirements of the EU and Ukrainian organic legislations.
“Thanks to our Armed Forces of Ukraine and international partners, Ukraine’s logistics situation has almost returned to the pre-war levels”, says Yevhen Motsnyi, Commercial Director of Skvyrskyi Grain Processing Factory. The company plans to expand its quantitative presence throughout the country, sign new contracts with distributors in the EU, and restore lost contracts in the Southeast Asian markets”, concludes Mr Motsnyi.
In Ukraine, the products are available in all national supermarkets such as Silpo, MegaMarket, METRO, Auchan, Fozzy, Novus, Fora, Eco, Rost, Tavria-V and others, as well as in healthy food stores and organic shops.
Website: www.skviryanka.com.ua
5th place: Organic Chicken
The Organic Chicken trademark belongs to the Home Chicken Farm Enterprise, which has been successfully operating for almost 6 years.
It is the largest producer of organic eggs in Ukraine. The farm has 18,000 laying hens of the Dekalb White breed and 5,500 Bovans Brown hens.
The company uses its own fields to ensure free range for its hens, and the quality and compliance with the relevant organic legislation is confirmed with organic certificate issued by Organic Standard.
“The farm’s priority activities are currently focused on the domestic market. However, the company is also working towards expanding its presence in other countries”, says Olena Stretovych, Director of the Home Chicken Farm Enterprise.
“In general, the plans for the next year are to work, support the country’s economy, provide people with jobs and develop”, adds Ms Stretovych.
The Organic Chicken products are available in national retail chains and speciality stores in Ukraine and can also be purchased online through such stores as Rozetka.
Website: www.organic-chicken.com.ua
6th place: Ecorod
The Ecorod trademark is owned by Organic Original and has been operating on the market since 2011. The main production facilities are located in Kyiv region.
The company has the largest range of organic grocery products in Ukraine: cereals, flour, oatmeal, oil, a line of corn sticks and snacks, for example, with freeze-dried berries, coconut, sugar-free, etc.
The company is growing and already for several years has been producing organic coffee.
In addition to the EU organic certificate, the company has successfully passed an inspection and received a certificate from Organic Standard for compliance with Ukrainian legislation in the field of organic production.
Currently, the company is mainly focused on the domestic market.
“Our plans for the next year are to keep the business going in these difficult conditions and launch some more new certified organic products on the snack market”, says Andrii Olefirenko, Director of Organic Original LLC.
Products under the Ecorod brand are widely represented in many national chains, such as Silpo, MegaMarket, Good Wine, Auchan, Novus, as well as in small shops selling healthy and natural food.
Website: www.ecorod.ua
7th place: BigBlue
The BigBlue trademark is owned by Yahidky Agricultural Production Cooperative located in Kyiv region.
The cooperative was founded in 2016 with the aim of growing organic blueberries, and it began selling berries in 2019.
This organic farm has 60 hectares and is one of the largest exclusively organic blueberry farms in the world. All the products comply with the requirements of both national and EU organic legislation and have been under Organic Standard’s control since 2016.
The farm offers 5 varieties of blueberries, and the harvest season lasts from late June to mid-September. The company focuses on the domestic market and exports, and it has also launched berry processing.
“Processing is in its final stages. We have produced about 3,000 litres of blueberry liqueur from blueberries and are finalizing the label and bottle design before bottling”, explains Oleksii Prokopchyk, Sales Manager of Yahidky (TM BigBlue).
“The company plans to launch a new production facility in the tunnel complex, develop and launch new processing areas, such as production of jams and sauces”, adds Mr Prokopchyk.
The BigBlue brand is represented in national retail chains such as Silpo, METRO, MegaMarket, WineTime, and FORA.
Website: www.bigblue.com.ua
8th place: Spring Drops
The Spring Drops brand was founded in 2012 and is owned by Liluck LLC, located in Chernivtsi region.
This company specialises in the production and export of organic birch sap that meets the requirements of Ukrainian and foreign legislation on organic production and certified by Organic Standard.
The Spring Drops birch sap is distinguished by the fact that it is made exclusively from company’s own raw materials collected in the forests of Bukovyna, located in the Carpathian region of Ukraine.
The company was one of the first to introduce birch sap to European stores 10 years ago and still remains a leader among juice exporters.
More than half of the products are exported. Most of the exported products are sold under customers’ own trademarks, but some products are supplied under the company’s own brand, Spring Drops. The company exports its birch sap to Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic.
In Ukraine, the products under the Spring Drops brand are available in Silpo, Novus, Auchan and Okko petrol stations.
Website: www.liluck.com.ua
9th place: Garna Organica
The Garna Organica brand is owned by UKROLIYA LLC, which was founded in 2001.
UKROLIYA owns two production complexes in Poltava region: the Ukroliya Organic oil pressing plant and the Ukroliyaproduct oil extraction plant. The Ukroliya Organic plant is the first enterprise in Ukraine to specialise exclusively in the processing of organic raw materials.
Garna Organica oil is produced exclusively from organic sunflower seeds grown by organic farms. Modern quality control technologies are used in the production of sunflower oils covering all stages — from raw materials sourcing to delivery of finished products to consumers.
Garna Organica offers classic and high oleic unrefined sunflower oil for salads, as well as oil for frying.
Garna Organica is certified in accordance with the EU and Canadian organic legislation, several private standards, and Ukrainian organic legislation, and is controlled by Organic Standard and Control Union certification bodies.
The products are available in national retail chains such as Silpo, Goodwine, Auchan, Novus, as well as in the online store ukroliya-shop.com.
Website: www.ukroliya.com
Website: www.garnaorganica.com
10th place: Agro Starytsya
The Agro Starytsia brand has been growing organic crops since 2012 on a farm located in Kyiv region.
The farm’s product range includes fresh and frozen vegetables, herbs and fruits, including raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, honeysuckle, gooseberries, black and red currants, apples, sweet and sour cherries, sea buckthorn, chokeberries, onions, leeks, aubergine, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkin, radishes, tomatoes, fennel and kohlrabi.
The production is certified by Organic Standard, which confirms its compliance with the requirements for organic production in accordance with the Law of Ukraine and the requirements of organic legislation of other countries.
The company actively implements modern technologies and methods of organic farming, which allows it to ensure a consistently high level of product quality.
The products of the Agro Starytsya farm are available in the Good Wine chain of stores.
Methodology for ranking
The ranking of the most recognized organic brands was developed in several stages, with companies evaluated according to the following criteria:
Production and sales volumes on the domestic market:
The main source of information was a study of the Ukrainian organic food market in 2023. The organic operators’ sales volumes were assessed. These were primarily the organic operators certified by Organic Standard. Since more than 95% of organic operators that produce and distribute organic products in Ukraine are certified by Organic Standard, these data are considered to be representative. The results of 2024 were also taken into account to assess how the companies operated in the current year. Due to the difficulties associated with the full-scale war, some companies have faced disruptions in production and supply. However, many companies are quickly adapting to the circumstances, changing their marketing strategies and expanding their product range.
Presence of brands in retail chains:
Firstly, the presence and availability of products in the stores were assessed. The broader the geographical coverage of stores and chains, the higher the brand's rating.
Secondly, the brand's popularity in the stores was taken into account: sales levels, customer feedback, and other factors indicating the brand's distinctiveness from competitors.
The activity of brands in media and social media:
The evaluation was conducted based on the results of online monitoring. The number and quality of brand mentions in media and social media, overall activity, communication, as well as how well they informed consumers about current events and other details were taken into account. The activity of companies’ pages in social media was also analysed, including the quality of content and interaction with the audience.
Transparency of companies and willingness to communicate were also considered in the evaluation.
The material is available in Ukrainian
*This publication has been produced with the support of Switzerland within the Swiss-Ukrainian program “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).
The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the development partner and program implementers.