Blueberry supplies in the United States are tight right now, though there are more berries on track with the imminent start of the season in New Jersey.

“Right now the blueberries come from Georgia and North Carolina. New Jersey is going to start probably around the 10th. They will start harvesting small and next week there will be more volume,” says Tony Biondo of Trucco Inc. in Vineland, New Jersey. This marks a slightly earlier start to the season compared to last year, when the state started its blueberries on June 15.

Biondo says the New Jersey crop appears to be both good quality and volume. “It's going to be a great season for New Jersey and we'll probably go through August,” he adds. August is also when Trucco, which packs blueberries in 450g, 510g and 900g containers, sources its supplies of blueberries from Michigan and British Columbia.

North Carolina
The New Jersey start follows problems with the North Carolina blueberry crop this year. “They don't have a very large harvest. They had a week with high volumes and then they dropped a lot”, continues Biondo. “So our suppliers, instead of having two loads of blueberries a day, for example, they only had 10 pallets a day, which is not much.” Mexico also offers blueberries, but not in considerable volume.

It is not surprising that the demand is strong and exceeds the available supply. “I think it will continue to be strong in the market throughout the season. With North Carolina's supply almost exhausted, New Jersey will be able to get a premium for its blueberries," Biondo concludes. “There is usually a lot of volume between all the states. Once it starts, it's just going to be New Jersey, so the market will stay up, unless there's a quality issue later in the season. But right now the quality seems great.”