The drought-breaking rain over winter and spring in 2010 has boosted Australia's blueberry volumes significantly over the previous season, with pricing holding firm on both the domestic and export markets.
“We had the wettest October on record in Coff’s Harbour,” Peter McPherson, CEO of Australia’s largest blueberry grower-marketer BerryExchange, told Fruitnet.com.
“In the second week of October we had 500mm of rain in just seven days, which was an all time record and we did lose some fruit. But the week before that and the three weeks after it we broke every `harvest` record known to man.”
Exports into Asia had a good run from mid-September to the last week of October, he said, until Argentinean fruit entered markets at 30-40 per cent lower prices than the Australian offering.
Australia is currently maintaining a presence in Japan and South East Asia, selling at a premium over the competition.
BerryExchange also fared well in its short UK window. “The three or four week season we had in Marks & Spencer in the UK went well, apart from the `record` rain period falling right in the middle of it,” said Mr McPherson. “But the quality of the product compared to the other offerings on the market was like chalk and cheese.”
The high Australian dollar, which has been oscillating around parity with the greenback for much of the blueberry season, has definitely had an impact on export sales, said Mr McPherson. Australian blueberries are already a premium product, however, meaning the currency has had less on an impact than on commodity products.
BerryExchange is also pushing on with its new blueberry production sites. The company has a young blueberry plantation in Sulphur Creek in Tasmania planted as part of a goal to have 52 week supply out of Australia.
Asia could also see the first fruit from BerryExchange’s Moroccan plantation in 2011, according to Mr McPherson.
“Our Japanese buyers were very eager about our Moroccan blueberries,” he said. “I think in February to April, we’ll see the first Moroccan blueberries in Japan.”
BerryExchange will also be pushing into South East Asia with the Moroccan fruit. “There’s a window there in the market place which Morocco fits perfectly, so we’re going to go in and kick some backside.”
