The boom for this crop was growing in the country while its best lands and varieties were sought, trying to take advantage of the counter-season production to reach the North American countries in August, when there they were left without their own production.

The Argentine blueberry

This business scheme reached its zenith in 2008, when Argentina exported close to 20 million kilos. The country was making its way behind Chile, which had fallen sharply and was by then the leading producer in Latin America.

The issue was that while things got complicated here (inflation, exchange rate split from 2011, tax schemes, withholdings, etc.), competition, as often happens, did not stand still and other countries also strongly increased their production, particularly Peru. , which became the world's largest exporter. According to an INTA study, between 1995 and 2015, world blueberry production tripled, going from 23.600 to 66.400 tons.

Rental income

“As the world developed exponentially, blueberry prices fell,” says Alejandro Pannunzio, president of the Argentine Blueberry Committee (ABC). According to a study prepared by the Directorate of Agricultural Production with data from INDEC, the value of exported fresh blueberries fell from $ 7.328 to $ 4.790 per ton between 2010 and 2019.

Thus, what was initially profitable to dispatch by plane, had to begin to be shipped by ship to be profitable. This substitution of freight, in turn, required changes in the useful life of the fruit, which now had to be extended, and in the harvest date, which had to be anticipated, which implied new agronomic learning about this shrub, with high costs associated with failure.

Of the 4.650 hectares that were grown with blueberries in 2008 in the country, today there are less than 2.700. About half is in the NOA (Tucumán and Salta), 40% in the NEA (Corrientes and Entre Ríos), and the rest in the Center (particularly Buenos Aires).

Of those 20 million kilos that were exported, in 2020 they were dispatched about 11 million. The main external markets are still the United States and Canada, with 67%, and Europe, with 27%, while the rest is distributed among several countries, each with its own requirements.

Domestic market on the rise

All this mutation of the business left many players out, while those who remained began to refocus the initial export strategy. Consumption in Argentina was negligible: about 50 grams per inhabitant per year, against 1,25 kilos in the United States.

Thus, producers began to turn more production to the domestic market, which began to be reflected in the very accessible prices of blueberries at times of full harvest (between October and November). To promote local consumption, they have been launching the campaign for five years #BetterWith Blueberries.

Covid effect

The pandemic contributed to the higher intake. Mariano Winograd, president of the Argentine subsidiary of 5 al Día, an organization that seeks to improve the intake of fruits and vegetables, says that although there are no precise statistics about increases in fruver consumption during 2020, “all professionals in the sector estimate at no less than 20% in relation to 2019 ”.

Pannunzio says that last year they were sold in Argentina about 3,5 million kilos of blueberries, while exports, according to INDEC, reached almost 40 million dollars, a third less than in 2019.