Most of Finland’s incoming Thai berry pickers this summer are hired by Pohjola Foodsin

Helsinki — Only 123 Thai berry pickers will arrive in Finland this summer after the Ministry for Foreign Affairs rejected the vast majority of visa applications filed from Thailand.

More than 2,100 pickers applied through Finland’s embassy in Bangkok, but the ministry turned down most of the requests on grounds of human-trafficking risk.

Pohjola Foods secured 107 of the 123 visas granted to Thai workers. The company covers all travel costs for its pickers, including round-trip airfare, travel insurance and visa fees—a combined benefit worth roughly €950 per worker that would normally be deducted from their net pay.

“After the ministry began issuing rejections earlier this summer, we decided to cover every entry cost ourselves,” said Akseli Nevalainen, Pohjola Foods’ chief executive. He added that the company has not been linked to recent criminal allegations against other Finnish berry-sector operators.

Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs said each visa decision was made on a case-by-case basis and that no single factor, such as flight reimbursement, guaranteed approval. Jussi Tanner, head of consular services at the ministry, stressed that the overriding concern was the risk of human trafficking.

“Working conditions, especially the potential for human trafficking, are taken extremely seriously,” Tanner said. “We do not wait for final court rulings before acting—visa screening must be preventive.”

The ministry also reviewed last year’s inspection reports from Finland’s Licensing and Supervision Authority, which last summer flagged issues in the domestic wild-berry sector.

Nevalainen estimated that Pohjola Foods’ Thai crews will harvest roughly 350,000–400,000 kilograms each of bilberries and lingonberries this season, depending on yields. About half of the crop will reach Finnish retail shelves; the rest will be exported.

Thai workers are an important but not exclusive source of pickers. Pohjola Foods also buys berries gathered by Finnish and Ukrainian crews operating under individual entrepreneur rights rather than as company employees.