The berry season in Huelva, Spain, is coming to an end and growers are beginning to do the math.

As reported by the Huelva Strawberry Producers and Exporters Association (Freshuelva), despite the fact that blueberries increased their production volume by 20%, mostly explained by the age of their plants, which are reaching their productive peak, the good result was overshadowed by an 18% drop in the average sale price of the blue fruit.

This drop is explained by the hot weeks at the end of May, which accelerated the ripening of the fruit and therefore its harvest season, coinciding with the production of other varieties and areas. Finally, the offer in the market was high and, consequently, the price of blueberries from Huelva fell.

The blueberry became the second berry with the highest production in the region with 59.100 tons, falling behind the strawberry, which reached 270.120 tons harvested.

The Huelva strawberry season was negative for its producers. Despite the good quality of the fruit, the production was reduced by 4%, since the cold days in December and January affected the growth of fruits per plant. And although the average sale price of strawberries increased by 2.8%, this increase does not compensate for the increase in production costs.

In addition, the same weeks of heat that affected blueberries had their cost for strawberry producers, who had to sell part of their production for processing due to their quality and condition, reducing the sale of fresh strawberries in the market.

The berry season in Huelva suffered from high-cost complications such as the truckers' strike during March, a season with a large movement of strawberry loads; climatic adversities, rise in the price of fertilizers, among others.

Even so, raspberry producers are the ones who get the happiest accounts in the region. Both its average sales price and its volume increased during the 21/22 campaign, by 1.5% and 7.5%, respectively. In total there were 49.990 tons produced, which have a high quality status and whose demand has remained stable throughout the campaign.

Finally, the production of blackberries reached 2.000 tons, a quantity very similar to that obtained in the last campaign. However, like blueberries and strawberries, it registered a 6% decrease in its average sales price.

Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands continue to be the main markets for blueberries from Huelva, sharing the first two markets as their first destinations with strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.