Ukraine's two import tables disagree — and that tells you where to start

The two tables, side by side

In 2024 Ukraine imported about 199.4 million dollars of chocolate. Poland alone took 34.24% of that — a third of the market from a single neighbour — with Germany second at 12.60%. Türkiye sits twelfth, at 1.80%.

Sugar confectionery is a different country. Imports of about 89.2 million dollars, Poland first at 22.49%, and Türkiye second at 18.48%, ahead of both Germany and China. Same importers, same distribution, same shelves — and a Turkish supplier who is invisible in one aisle is already established in the next one.

What the unit values are actually saying

The averages sharpen it. Turkish sugar confectionery lands in Ukraine at about 3.40 $/kg; Turkish chocolate at 6.99 $/kg. Polish chocolate lands at 5.88.

So on the confectionery side we arrive at a price the market has already accepted in volume. On the chocolate side we arrive above the incumbent, over a shorter road than ours. That is no reason to skip chocolate — only a reason to stop sending plain moulded bars, which have no argument at that gap.

Build the first container on the confectionery side

Concretely, the opening load is weighted toward sugar confectionery: Turkish delight — plain, whole pistachio, double roasted, kadayıf — in bulk cartons and in retail boxes; jelly and popping candy in bulk cartons for the weigh-out shelf, which is where a new name is tested without a listing fee.

Alongside them, dragées and sugared almonds sorted by colour and calibre, plus chocolate-coated nut and fruit centres. A buyer can price these against something already on the shelf, and a mistake costs one pallet, not one container.

Then two or three chocolate lines the shelf does not carry

Chocolate is not skipped; it is entered narrowly. The candidates are the items Ukrainian shelves do not already have from closer suppliers — the filled pistachio and kadayıf bar above all, and whole-pistachio delight as its natural companion on the same fixture.

Two points belong in the offer, not in the pitch. The offer states line by line whether a coating is chocolate or a cocoa-based glaze, because the two are labelled differently and priced differently. And chocolate lines carry our own certificates, for our factory; copies are available on request.

Declarations, documents and the label

Ukraine is outside both the Eurasian and the EU frameworks. The importer files the declaration and carries responsibility for the product's compliance with Ukrainian food legislation — which means the importer needs a file from us before the goods move, not after.

Per line, from the supplier side: our technical specification, ingredients and allergens, net weight, the batch analysis report, and the customs tariff heading. On duty, the only honest sentence is that the offer states what applies on the day it is issued. The consumer label is in Ukrainian; for private label we draft it from our technical specification, and nothing goes to print without written approval.

What to send us

We sell by full container or full truck, and the minimum is set per line and written into the offer — not per container. That is why an opening mixed container can carry six or seven items in measured quantities, each on its own pallet, under one packing list. Chocolate and chocolate-coated lines travel at +18/+20 °C; in hot months a refrigerated container is offered, and if a dry container is preferred the temperature risk passes to the buyer in writing before loading. Delight, dragées and jelly go dry all year.

Send the city and the channel — weigh-out shelf, packaged retail, pastry and HoReCa — the six or seven lines you want, your target price bracket, and whether the label is ours or yours. The written offer follows in two working days. Terms are 50% at order and 50% before the container leaves, against loading photographs. More background sits on our Ukraine page.