Industry members noted at the NABC / USHBC Spring Conference that they expect demand for frozen blueberries to continue at high levels to strengthen prices, along with persistent growth over the next two years.

"Over the past few years, the frozen blueberry market has been affected by the pandemic and consumer demand has skyrocketed," said John Shelford of Naturipe Farms.

The expert projected that the combined figures for the United States and Canada will be above last year.

“With 388 million tons of highbush for this year, I forecast that we will enter the 450 area and begin to push 500 million tons in the next two or three years; which will allow us to return to the total of 700 to 720 million tons for high y lowbush"He commented.

In the Current Frozen Market Update session, panelists included Shelford, Mike Phillips, Mark Adams and Steven Phillips from Berry Hill.

Shelford noted that “the market outlook is good for next year. We see potential to strengthen prices as we move through this harvest period. "

“The transportation supply that I forecast will be the lowest in the last 10 years. We had the biggest movement we have had in the first four months from October to January, ”he said.

Regarding the "USDA Cold Storage Holding Report", Shelford noted that "only public cold stores report voluntarily, as there is no mandatory reporting requirement, which makes the information unreliable."

“I've used analysis that gives me confidence that the cold storage report is a good indicator of what's happening. Although it is not an exact number, it shows us the relationships," she emphasized.

Exports

Regarding exports, the specialist commented, the demand has been 'reasonable' and highbush They will be limited by pesticide residue limits, so nature will continue to dominate.

Shelford predicted that by 2021 the exports of blueberries abroad highbush will decline significantly due to the very limited supply from the 2020 crop of just 213 million tonnes.

He added that “the frozen package will increase while the profitability of the products is reduced. Quality standards will continue to trend towards 'near perfection' in terms of 'added' value. However, the growth of the fresh supply will continue to be a competitor ”.

Asked about predictions for 2021, Steven Phillip said that “our hope is that the rebound in frozen products continues and, given that there is demand for good quality, I think that with that high quality we can move a lot of volume now.”