Frozen berry sales rise despite higher prices in Finland

Frozen berry sales have increased in parts of Finland despite rising prices, Yle reports. At the S Group retail cooperative, sales grew by a fifth between 2020 and 2025.

Oulu resident Tuija Raatikainen, 36, buys most of her berries from the frozen food section and plans to continue doing so even if prices rise further.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” said Raatikainen, a low income dance school entrepreneur. She said berry pickers should receive proper compensation for their demanding work.

Raatikainen eats berries regularly, especially in smoothies. She said berries make up only a small part of her grocery bill and that she would be willing to pay more for them.

Statistics Finland estimates that frozen fruit and berries cost about 30 percent more in 2025 than they did a decade earlier. Prices rose particularly sharply in 2025.

Berry prices are expected to increase this year because far fewer Thai berry pickers are expected to come to Finland than in previous years. At the same time, Finnish residents have become more active in taking berries to buying points.

At the S Group, only 16 percent of berries sold are imported, although the share has increased clearly in recent years. Frozen berries are bought most often in Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa and Southwest Finland, and least often in Central Ostrobothnia and Kainuu.

Kesko said its frozen berry sales have declined slightly. Sales of fresh berries have increased so much, however, that the chain’s total sales volumes have remained unchanged. Lidl did not provide information on sales trends.

Birgitta Partanen, executive director of Arktiset aromit, an organisation representing the natural products industry, said higher prices have encouraged Finns to collect and preserve more berries themselves in recent years.

However, she said an increasing number of people do not have realistic opportunities to do so. Many live in city apartments without space for freezers or cold storage, leaving them dependent on berries sold in shops.

Raatikainen usually picks small amounts of lingonberries and bilberries from a nearby forest each year. She does not intend to increase her picking. She lives in an apartment building, has no car and lacks freezer space.

“I don’t have the energy. I don’t want to,” she said.

Partanen believes that Raatikainen is in the minority, particularly among people on low incomes. If the prices of Finnish berries rise substantially and people cannot pick them themselves, many may instead choose imported fruit or berries.

She remains hopeful that domestic berries will be available to consumers in reasonable quantities this year, possibly more than two years ago, when relatively few foreign pickers were in Finland. She said Finnish residents have become more active in taking berries to buying points this year.