Forbes on INSORTEX: how our technology made Ukrainian berries more valuable globally

What Forbes pointed out

The article notes that the global frozen berry market is growing and that in 2024 Ukraine became a leader in net exports of frozen raspberries. However, for many years up to 40% of the crop was sold cheaper simply because it was not properly cleaned and calibrated. INSORTEX introduced equipment for cleaning, grading and inspection that allows producers to separate large, intact berries from small fractions and debris — and that’s what foreign buyers pay more for.

The starting point

Forbes recalled the first turning case: in 2019 a Ukrainian processor needed a line to wash garden strawberries, but European machines were too aggressive. INSORTEX engineered a brush washer that removed sand without damaging the berry. The customer got a higher price and recommended the solution to others — this is how the demand started to grow.

Full lines, not just one machine

The publication underlined that INSORTEX now offers more than 40 types of equipment — vibrating cleaners, destemming/separator units, inspection conveyors, bubble washers, screw conveyors, automatic graders, metal detectors and even packing machines. In practice this means a berry business can build a full “dirty-to-finished” line in one place. Even the basic configuration gives a visible quality upgrade.

Economic effect

Forbes cited INSORTEX data: a basic line costing about 300,000–650,000 UAH can increase the value of the final product 2–3 times. Because almost every fraction of the berry is now sold (whole berries for export, small material for ice cream, jams or yogurts), the investment pays back fast — sometimes in one season.

Clients and geography

The article mentioned real producers — “Simeyna Yahoda”, “Yarofrut”, “Rokytne Berry”, as well as partners from Moldova — who, after installing Ukrainian equipment, started exporting to Canada, the USA, Germany, Italy and Turkey and met stricter quality requirements. A separate point was that INSORTEX machines often cost €5,000–10,000 less than EU analogues while delivering comparable or better processing quality.

Beyond berries

Finally, Forbes added that INSORTEX also works with other industries — meat, bakery, dairy, waste sorting, HoReCa — and even delivers custom solutions (leaf-cleaning line for eco-paper, metal-detector conveyor, filling machines). This proves that INSORTEX is an industrial engineering team, and the berry sector is just the clearest example of how technology immediately turns into money.