Chilean blueberry season in full swing

They may have gotten off to a slower start than expected, but since Week 51, weekly shipments of Chilean Blueberries to the U.S. and Canada have been higher than last season. In fact, during Week 5, the U.S. market will see a new historic high for weekly arrivals, with more than 6,000 tons of Chilean blueberries entering the market.

Recent strong arrivals will not completely compensate for lower volumes at the front end of the Chilean blueberry season, but the gap between this season’s volume and last year’s has rapidly diminished. While Europe and Asia have seen decreases of eighteen and fifteen percent, respectively, North America’s volume has decreased by just two percent. Exports through Week 3 to North America reached 42,453 tons, or 68% of Chile’s total season to date blueberry exports.

To support the strong arrivals of blueberries to this market, The Chilean Blueberry Committee (CBC) has launched a range of promotions throughout North America, giving everyone even more reasons to pick up these little blue dynamos. Throughout the winter months, the CBC will be running numerous tailored retail promotions and social media contests, as well as introducing new point of sale and usage images. The CBC has also produced new recipe and orchard videos to engage consumers in the story of Chilean blueberries.

Comments Karen Brux, North America Managing Director of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association, “We want to increase winter consumption of fresh Chilean blueberries. The videos are short and direct, but we’ve also designed them to be personal and engaging. Our goal is to use just one minute to bring the world of Chilean blueberries to consumers, and another minute to demonstrate a really great tasting recipe that anyone can easily make. It’s all about delivering more reasons to eat more Chilean blueberries.”

To view the new blueberry recipe videos, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StxxqEz1soE

Orchard videos can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1OlVMH414Y

Weekly crop updates are available at http://www.chileanblueberrycommittee.com.