Ukrainian agrarians master production of niche and specific products. Often these are delicacies, the culture of consumption of which in local latitudes is not developed at all. But the lack of domestic demand is compensated by the demand for these products abroad. Today, there are snail farms that supply shellfish to the table all over the world. In Ukraine there are 10 large companies and several dozens of small farmers who are engaged in the cultivation of grape snails. This is a new business for Ukrainian entrepreneurs. Most of them have been growing snails only for the last three-four years and export up to 90% of their products.

The main consumers of Ukrainian snails are EU countries. The logistics of Ukrainian exports is unusual:at first, live molluscs are taken to Lithuania, Poland, and the Czech Republic where they are processed into semi-finished products, frozen and then transported to other markets – Italy, Spain, Germany, and France. Export of Ukrainian snails in January-May 2019 is increased by 4.6 times compared to the same period of the last year and reached 166.5 tons of snails, amounted to $ 252.8 thousand. 

At the same time, 90 tons of snails were exported from Ukraine in 2018, which was the lowest figure for the last four years (maximum in 2016 – 347 tons). The export leader is Lithuania – 54 tons ($ 62 thousand). The second position is held by Poland – 18 tons ($ 28 thousand). The Czech Republic ranks third with 18 tons ($ 27 thousand).

Imports of snails to Ukraine in January-May 2019 is amounted to 35.4 tons, which is the highest figure for the last 13 years.

The largest snail producer and exporter in Dnipropetrovsk region is  farm holding “Zdravlyk”.