The Peruvian blueberry season is in the final stretch. "Peru is still harvesting blueberries, although the last volumes are expected to be harvested next week," says Fred Douven of the Dutch company abbGrowers. The merchant is quite satisfied with the Peruvian campaign. «The quality was good this year. Due to the increase in the planted area, there was a lot of pressure on the market at the beginning of the marketing campaign, but the low initial prices were compensated over the course of the season.

«The last batches of blueberries are also arriving from South Africa at the moment, whose season was quite problematic in terms of the quality of the fruit. Almost all shipments arrived late, with a transit time of 4-5 weeks being no exception, which translated into large differences in quality. There were very good batches, but there were also containers of very poor quality blueberries,” says Fred.

“The Chilean season has started late, with the first containers typically arriving in week 50. I expect Chilean supply to peak between weeks 3 and 7, after which supply will decline rapidly. Although there is talk of lower supply volumes due to lack of pickers and transportation problems, I see that many kilos of fruit are being loaded onto ships," says Fred.

Fred Douven of abbGrowers.

«At the moment, blueberry sales remain at a stable level. Due to the delays, there is some concern in the market regarding the ability of shippers to meet their obligations, but we are not experiencing problems. Expectations for the Mediterranean season are also good. Morocco, in particular, has significantly increased production. "In Spain, the weather conditions are not bad, so crop growth is progressing satisfactorily."

«The cultivation area of ​​Sekoya varieties is increasing a lot. As with other types of fruit, club varieties are gaining more and more market share in the blueberry segment,” says Fred. «In addition, blueberry sales in general continue to grow in all European countries. Although the Proposed referendum on United Kingdom membership of the European Union has had an effect on shipments to the UK, other European countries are compensating for the reduction in British demand. There are hardly any changes in the packaging format. When the supply on the market increases, we see more 650-750 gram containers, while the 1 kilo container is mainly reserved for the European season.

«Plastic packaging is still used everywhere, even in France, where plastic is still allowed for berries. Lids are no longer used to close the containers, but rather the heat sealing solution., also for destinations like the Middle East. Carton packs are not really a valid alternative at the moment for the segment of the berries In addition to the fact that cardboard is outrageously expensive, the sustainability of this material is also debatable. Ultimately, the shelf life of the fruit is the most important factor in this regard. "And if fruit in a cardboard container is wasted faster, the carbon footprint of this type of packaging becomes much greater."