Polish blueberry specialist Baltic Berry is eyeing new export destinations in 2013 as it looks to market greater volumes of fruit.
The company has traditionally sent the majority of its export crop to the UK and Switzerland, but is looking to expand into new areas, according to the firm's manager Joanna Sapala.
'Our basic market is the UK,' she tells Eurofruit. 'Last season we noticed less orders than expected, probably due to the economic climate.
'New markets we are targeting are the Scandinavian and French markets,' Sapala adds.
Targeting fresh markets could be crucial given the fact that there is a larger crop on the horizon, with Sapala confirming the group is set to harvest blueberry volumes that are 30 per cent up on 2012, the result of young plantings becoming commercially viable.
Sapala notes that the firm will continue to market established and successful varieties such as Duke, Bluecrop, Liberty, Draper and Nelson, but added that Baltic Berry will be raising the question of industry-wide promotion and marketing for these at an upcoming producer meeting.
'During the annual Polish blueberry producers' meeting, which we are soon attending, we will definitely pick up on the issue of promotion,' she confirms.
Baltic Berry is a family company run by two generations of growers, drawing its production from 30ha on the Plantacja Siwkowice Blueberry Farm in the northwest region of the country.
