Blueberries in Charts: Mexico sends record volumes to U.S. market

With the California blueberry season now underway, current forecasts are pointing to a significant year-on-year increase in harvests. This, along with a delay in the Mexican season, has led to relatively concentrated volumes and resulted in total arrival volumes in the U.S. at a five-year high in April, as you can see in the chart below.

The U.S. blueberry market has been growing significantly every year, amid increasing demand and global exports. One of the production countries that has seen the biggest increase is Mexico.

Meanwhile, per-kilo prices in week 17 were US$7.90, the lowest in five years, and US$0.20 lower on average the same date last year.

The growth from Mexico has been astonishing. In April the country exported 7,992 metric tons (MT) of blueberries, almost 2,000MT more than in April last year and 267% more than in 2015. As we can see in the chart below, the indications are that it will continue to grow over the coming years, as the planted surface area grows and young plantations come online.

Prices of Mexican blueberries have fallen as the volumes have risen, as you can see below. In April, the per-kilo price was US$8.20, which is US$0.50 lower than last year and the lowest level in five years.

The U.S. blueberry market is set to be demanding and competitive in the future. Independent of the growing demand for blueberries year by year, with Mexican and Peru growing significantly, Chile continuing to be a big player with its large volumes, and Argentina and Uruguay also supplying fruit, we can expect the downward price trend to continue.

Written by: Cristian Crespo
Original published in FreshFruitPortal.com on May 07, 2019 (Link)