Warm weather in the Pacific Northwest has brought blueberry volumes on early. The additional early fruit has made for lower than anticipated prices.
“Everything in the Northwest is trending about two weeks early,” said Jeff Malensky of Oregon Berry Packing. “We had a warm spring. We also had a good second pick in Oregon and a good first pick in Washington. The forecast is that it will be unseasonably hot through next weekend, so the dynamic of what's available could change in the next week.” On June 26, volume out of Oregon reached almost 900,000 flats for the season, which is substantially more than the 550,000 or so flats that were harvested by the same time last season. Similarly, at 344,000 flats, Washington's production has been more than double the 162,000 flats that were picked by this time last year.
“Prices are less than what was expected for this time,” noted Malensky. “The reason for that is that the big blueberry-producing regions don't normally enter the market at the same time. British Columbia and Washington usually have no fruit in June, but it's a unique situation where you have British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and New Jersey all going at the same time, so there's a lot more fruit.” On June 26, prices for a flat of medium to large blueberries from Oregon and Washington were between $14.00 and $15.00. Out of British Columbia, prices for a flat of berries were between $11.50 and $14.00 at crossings through Washington.
For more information:
Jeff Malensky
Oregon Berry Packing
+1 503 640 2313