Blueberries problem solved – Peru has sharply increased exports

Overview of blueberries from Peru, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on April 10, 2024.

According to EastFruit analysts, after a disastrous start to the blueberry export season from Peru, which led to the first-ever decline in global trade of this trending berry, export volumes are currently recovering.

In particular, in January-February 2024, Peruvian exporters were able to sell almost 40 thousand tons of fresh blueberries to foreign markets, which is 60% more than in the same period in 2023, which indicates a tendency for production volumes to recover after a historical decline due to abnormally warm winter.

In general, over the past 12 calendar months, Peru was able to export 227 thousand tons of fresh blueberries, which is approximately 20% less than in the previous similar period. The main blueberry markets for Peru in January-February remained the USA, the Netherlands, the UK, China, Taiwan, Brazil, Spainб and Canada.

Peru’s main competitor, Chile, exported more than 70 thousand tons of fresh blueberries in January-February 2024 – 78% more than Peru, 4% more than a year ago. At the same time, countries have different berry export seasons, which only partially overlap. Peru’s blueberry exports peak between August and January, while Chile exports bulk of its blueberries in January and February. Therefore, these countries really compete in foreign markets only in January.

On the other hand, Peru actively competes with blueberries from Ukraine and Poland in the period from August to October. And it was the decline in blueberry production in Peru in 2023 that became a pleasant surprise for Ukrainian exporters and allowed them to increase prices and revenues. Let us remind you that last year blueberries brought more revenue to exporters from Ukraine than apples for the first time.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

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