Blueberries present a retail bargain

Blueberries rebounded from early summer weather trouble, and now supplies are plentiful, with the Pacific Northwest as the main growing region. 

Prices have responded with a low, steady level perfect for retail promotions. Berries as a category have shown strong consumer demand at retail all summer.

From the graph above we can see the 3-year comparison for January through August 9th 2018-2020, said David Wilson Villasenor, vice president of sales to shippers and growers for Agtools Inc. BB #:355102

Blue Book has teamed with Agtools Inc., the data analytic service for the produce industry, to look at a handful of crops and how they’re adjusting in the market during the pandemic.

We can observe 2018 with 181 million pounds, 2019 with 217 million pounds, and 2020 with 220 million pounds Blueberries were up in 2020 18 percent vs 2018 and 1 percent vs 2019.

Blueberries Mexico shipping Fob prices 12-6oz cups with lids 2018-2020.

We can see with the graph above the Mexico Blueberries F.O.B. pricing for 12-6 flats in the period 2018-2020, Wilson said. We can observe in 2020 F.O.B. prices were lower on whole than in 2019, and 2018 has similar prices to those in 2020. Current prices are about $10.

Blueberries 6 oz Retail Price per pound Conventional and Organic

We can observe the organic blueberry retail prices per pound in blue and the conventional in red for the Northeast for the last year, Wilson said. Organic prices were between $2-5. Conventional were also $2-5, but as expected, organic prices have been higher than conventional prices as a whole.

Blueberries: Volume January 1 through August 9th, 2020

From the table above we can see from the total volume for Blueberries of 333.7 million pounds that Mexico enjoys 22.4 percent, Chile 20 percent and Oregon 9 percent of the total, Wilson said. Mexico has shipped 26 million pounds more than in 2019 which is 33 percent more than in 2019. Chile has produced 20 percent less than in 2019.