Huelva's red fruit campaign is in full swing. Although this year the area of ​​strawberries in the province remains the same, that of blueberries rises slightly and with new varieties that cover the early gap. Meanwhile, the acreage dedicated to raspberries generally falls, although this is not the case for one of the leading companies in the production of this red fruit.

“We have increased the raspberry acreage by 20% with our program of exclusive varieties. In fact, to date, we have marketed around 70% more raspberries compared to last year," says Carlos Esteve, commercial director of Onubafruit.

The company has already sold 4.000 tons so far in the campaign, which began in September, and expects to reach around 13.000 tons by the end of the year.

"New extra-early blueberry varieties to cover gaps where there was no production"

"Production is increasing all over the world and it remains to be seen how we will position ourselves in the future," says Carlos Esteve. “Demand was in balance with supply last season. Last year, the production peaks could be controlled more in the months in which it used to occur and, therefore, not too much supply was piled up. There is still growth potential in its consumption, in some countries more than in others. It is a crop that continues to offer good returns to farmers and that is why it continues to grow, although not at the levels of previous years"

Onubafruit is harvesting and marketing the first blueberries of its variety program this campaign, a project that is beginning to bear fruit after several years of work in its trial fields.

"This campaign we are already producing the first blueberries, although in limited quantities. It is a program of 6 new varieties, focused on the first part of the campaign. Some varieties are extra early. We harvested one of them on dates that were not possible before in Huelva, at the end of November. We seek to produce at times when there is not much production and improve the quality of the product at times when we are already producing. In this period, we competed with South American blueberries, although we enjoy competitive advantages in logistics, with a lower impact on the carbon footprint. The rest of the varieties that we will be able to offer this year will be harvested until April," explains Carlos Esteve. "We have already begun to investigate to obtain varieties for the second part of the campaign in the future."

"The profitability of strawberries is increasingly in question"

Strawberries are the product with the highest volume for this company and where the rise in production costs is most noticeable.

"Strawberry is a commodity that is on all the shelves of supermarkets. In recent years its cultivation is becoming more and more questionable in Huelva, since its profitability has suffered in recent years. If we take into account the production costs, the problems in finding labor – being the hardest red fruit to harvest as it is short plants –, as well as its greater need for water resources, it seems to compensate less and less for planting it. This seems to be increasing interest in hydroponic cultivation, although it is still not very representative in Huelva”, recalls Carlos Esteve.

Regarding this campaign, in which the volumes sold are greater than last year, in which the effects of the Filomena storm were suffered, Carlos indicates that "the prices are being correct, although perhaps we are not fully aware of how much production and packaging costs are rising. There are packaging materials whose prices change every week. There could be surprises throughout the campaign.”