Ben Goodchild of Nationwide Produce:

The first Chilean blueberries arrive in the United Kingdom, but Spanish and Moroccan ones are in short supply

In recent months, UK blueberry supplies have been dominated by Peru, supported by South Africa. However, the market is starting to pick up supplies from Chile, Morocco and Spain.

 

“Overall, the quality of Peruvian blueberries has been very good, better than in previous years,” says Ben Goodchild of Nationwide Produce. “There are always some issues when fruit is transported by sea, but it seems that Peru has focused on quality to recover from last year’s poor availability and perhaps establish itself as the number one source during the northern hemisphere winter. Although we are not dealing with South African blueberries this year, it seems that large retailers are selling good volumes. This may suggest greater price stability.”

The first blueberries from Chile have arrived this week and Morocco has just started, Spain is also in the market but with very high prices and low harvest volumes.

“Chilean arrivals are of mixed quality at the moment; the fruit packed in tubs is good, both in flavour and size. The quality of the bulk arrivals is uneven, but this can happen when containers spend four weeks in the water, and will depend on the type of controlled atmosphere system the shippers have chosen to use. The Spanish and Moroccan seasons have started, but the cold has slowed production and prices are high, although supply will improve in a couple of weeks.”

Ben says that in general, fruit and vegetables of all kinds are not really helped by the health-driven push people make in January after overeating and overspending in December, and it seems that January is still a long way off.

«The first two weeks of January are usually slow, but this week it seems the mood has changed, perhaps because people are already seeing their paychecks approaching and don't mind spending a little.»

Source
Fresh Plaza

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