Strawberries in Charts: The king of berries sees its biggest month ever

Towering over the other berries, strawberries are the unchallenged kings. The nearest competitor is blueberries, which on average only add one-fifth of the volume that strawberries send to market.

It’s not too often that we live events that define the last 10 years. In the world of strawberries, last month was exactly that. With a volume of 336,490,000 pounds, June’s volume is the first time the industry has broken the 300-million-pound mark

The consequence of this massive volume has been a drop in the price that has had many in the industry scratching their heads.

The response to the surge in volume is reflected in the lowest average price we’ve seen in May in the last four years. At US$8.70 it is considerably lower than last year’s price, and the previous low, of US$9.96.

Considering that May is typically the highest volume month for the fruit, the impact of these price fluctuations can be considerable.

Although not all fruit is reflected in the USDA’s database, the information that is reported is generally recognized as a good point of reference for how the markets are moving. That said, the low prices have hit producers, taking away 12% of the value per flat, compared to last year.

If we multiply the price and the volume, we can have an idea of what the value of the crop was, which compared to last year only went 6% higher, arguably returning less money to the industry for the considerable additional effort they made to bring this fruit to market.

Written by: Colin Fain
Original published in FreshFruitPortal.com on June 12, 2018 (Link)