Canada: British Columbia cranberry season ends
British Columbia blueberry producers are entering the final harvest days after a season of complications in full harvest. The abundance of blueberries in July drove down prices, as the rains during the central part of the season affected the quality.
"A couple of things stand out"says Davinder Punia of A&P Fruit Growers in Abbotsford, British Columbia. "The season has been flooded with the Bluecrop variety during the middle of the season, and at the same time we had rain in July which affected the quality and caused some fruits to soften".
These two elements contributed to reduce sales. Prices started at the 12 fork at 14 dollars per box of 12 pints at the end of June, but the market dropped to between 8 and 12 dollars in mid-July. Prices have improved since the July low, as August's 30 prices in the United States were between 22 and 28 dollars for a crate of blueberries arriving from British Columbia through northwest Washington.
This has been the first season that British Columbia growers have had access to the Chinese market. Punia notes that not many producers who work with A&P have been interested in shipping to China this season, although that could change in the future.
«Producers who wanted to export to China had to register with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, pay for pest control and inspections, and follow certain procedures. "It has been a long process and only 2 percent of the producers have passed it, although, in the end, they have not sent anything.", Explica. "Blueberry volumes this season have been 10 to 15 percent lower than last year, so there hasn't been much fruit to ship, but maybe we will ship to China in the future if our growers want it.".
Source: Freshplaza.es
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