Wild berry business got Thai pickers but paid €60,000 to move travel dates

The business owner says that the berry pickers’ incomes will not decrease despite a shorter picking season than last year.

Akseli Nevalainen, owner of the Lieksa-based business Polproduct Nordics Oy, can heave a sigh of relief. The company has received the help of 150 Thai pickers.

For the entire start of the summer, it was unclear whether Thai pickers would be able to come to Finland, as discussions between the Finnish and Thai authorities had stagnated.

According to media reports, the authorities have been surprised by the number of Thai pickers in Kainuu, as the Thai authorities have evidently tried to prevent pickers from travelling to Finland. The pickers have been required to obtain exit permits because of human trafficking suspicions in the Finnish berry business.

“Before the pickers came here, we told them that everything was in order at the Finnish end. As far as I know, nobody in Thailand has forbidden the pickers from leaving the country,” Nevalainen says.

“I’m sure that the Thai authorities have above all wanted to make sure that the pickers will be OK in Finland. We evaluated incomes for the pickers several times, as they arrived a couple of weeks later than the start of the picking season. The final time, we made an evaluation again on the request of government officials.”

“Pickers are satisfied”

Akseli Nevalainen says that the Thai pickers can earn quite well in Finland, even if they missed some of the season.

“I’m not going to reveal any precise numbers, but they’re earning well in any case. They’re making several thousands of euros net.”

Nevalainen’s company adheres to the rural profession collective agreement, which he does not have a bad word to say about.

“If the same agreement can work in the farmed berry business, why can’t it work in the wild berry business, even though you can affect the crop of farmed berries, unlike wild berries. The agreement means they can work on employment contracts.”

Under the collective agreement, the company is responsible for car and fuel expenses, whereas before the pickers paid to hire cars. Nevalainen’s company pays for the cars’ fuel in full.

“At the moment we’re spending less on fuel because there are wild berries a lot closer. The pickers are satisfied when they have berries to pick.”

“So good that tourists could stay there”

There has been some public discussion about the condition of the Thai pickers’ accommodation. Nevalainen says he tries to make sure the pickers have sufficiently good lodgings.

“We have rooms where even I would stay. I have a mould allergy. My mother got lymphoma from living for years in a mouldy house. That’s why I’m convinced that no one should live anywhere mouldy. The accommodation is so good that tourists could stay here.”

Nevalainen says the forests are now full of berries.

His company has relied largely on partner companies to house the pickers. The company itself owns a few accommodation locations.

The Thai pickers pay for their flights, food, work permit and accommodation out of their own pocket. Nevalainen bought tickets for the pickers at a low price in the spring but was since forced to change the travel dates several times.

“We charge the pickers the original ticket price and we pay the change fees. We’ve had to pay around €60,000 to change travel dates. We could have used that money a lot better, because we have a lot of other bills to pay here,” the business owner says.

“The market is going in the right direction”

Under current legislation, Thai pickers can no longer work in Finland as employees on a tourist visa; they must have work permits. The Finnish Immigration Service decides on permits.

At present, around 900 Thais have received permits allowing them to pick berries in Finland. In total, there have been around 1,300 applicants this year.

Nevalainen cannot yet say how the late start to the picking season will affect his company’s profits. He will only know that next July, when the current financial year has ended.

“Demand for berries is good at the moment. The market is going in the right direction. At the moment, we can pay our pickers more than we did last year. I think the situation is better for everyone, even though the product is now more expensive for us and our customers. This will be reflected in the prices on the shelf, but I’m sure that consumers are ready to pay for products made from Finnish berries.

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