Mexico gains strength, Spain lags behind: The cranberry market is divided and there will be shortages in the coming weeks

Mexico gains strength, Spain is delayed: The blueberry market is divided and there will be shortages in the coming weeks

05/04/2018

«The current situation in the blueberry market is interesting and unique at the same time“says Don Goforth of Family Tree Farms. The market is in a transition phase with the latest arrivals from Chile, while the Mexico program begins to gain strength. «We are receiving a very good volume from Mexico and within two weeks more production will be intense"says Goforth. Family Tree Farms has launched its own farm in Mexico and will harvest from late February or early March until the end of May.

Spain starts late

While Chile comes to an end and Mexico gets underway, blueberry production in Spain is scarce as its start has been delayed due to atypical weather conditions. «Normally, Spain should be producing enough already, but the cold, the rain and the wind have delayed the harvest. The country will have plenty of fruit, but it will cost more to reach a regular harvest«Adds Goforth.

The lack of supply in Europe awakens a lot of interest in Mexican blueberries. As a result, Family Tree Farms is airfreighting limited volumes to customers in the UK and other parts of Europe. «It's only a matter of weeks or even days, but we're happy to help«. The vast majority of the blueberries the company grows in Mexico end up in the United States and Canada.

Decent volume, but little supply

Goforth describes the current situation as a divided market. Chile has had a fantastic season with a lot of volume, but the quality of the product is declining. At the same time, a high-quality fresh product is beginning to arrive from Mexico. «In this period of transition, demand exceeds supply. It seems to me that this shortage of supply will last another three or four weeks until Florida begins."He concludes.

Source: FreshPlaza