"The day we manage to lower the cost of blueberries, their consumption will multiply"

«El día que consigamos abaratar los costes del arándano se multiplicará su consumo»

20/02/2017

Soloberry has been involved in the Early Blue project for four years, a program of Australian blueberry varieties with only a few cold hours, so the plant can be continuously blooming and producing fruit if the conditions are right.

"With a good management, and if the weather allows it, we hope to have up to two annual harvests in some locations where the climatic conditions allow it. This campaign we have started harvesting Earlyblue in November in some places, so it is clear that they are extra early varieties", Explains Juan José Ollero, technical director of Soloberry.

At the moment, they have a range of 15 varieties, of which only 5 have selected varieties that are characterized by their precocity, shelf life, appearance and taste. At the same time, they complete their cranberry distribution calendar with the importation of blueberries from South America.

According to Juan José Ollero, the Spanish production of cranberry concentrates especially in the months of April and May, with free varieties such as Star, which is giving the sector a feeling of oversupply.

clamshell "There is still a lot of space to fill in the months of February, March and a little in June. For this reason we bet on early varieties, where prices and margins are very good to produce. In addition, we think that demand will continue to grow much more throughout Europe".

According to the producer and exporter, the price of cranberry to the consumer is still too high at certain times of the campaign, and this may represent, to this day, the biggest limitation. "The day we find the formula to lower the cost of production, allowing sufficient margins, the consumption will multiply much more unseating other products of the supermarkets".

"Spain is the next step in the medium term. We see that it is a product that the Spaniards really like and I think that consumption will grow significantly in Spain, especially among children"He says.

Rachel Montague-Ebbs, director of supply chain at Soloberry, has presented at Fruit Logistica the expectations and future plans for Earlyblue, which has already been registered as a trademark (EarlyBlue ™). Rachel will present this brand at the Fruit Attraction fair in October.

Source: Freshplaza.es