"Significantly more blueberries arrived from Peru than last year. However, the European market easily absorbed those volumes, and prices are under no pressure. Price levels are, in fact, much higher than I'd initially anticipated," says Wilco Arts of North Bay Europe.
© North Bay Produce
This year marks this company's Dutch sales office fifth year. North Bay is a North American cooperative with grower owners in North, Central, and South America. The Dutch office focuses on marketing standard and premium blueberry varieties from Peru, Chile, Africa, and Europe. "Thanks to our collaboration with our growers, we had Peruvian berries available early in the season, when there was hardly any fruit on the market. That demonstrates that we're a stable partner for European retailers."
"Our season started gradually. Around seven to eight million kilos of blueberries will be shipped from Peru to Europe per week at the moment, and we're now at the peak of that supply. Last year, we had to deal with the aftermath of El Niño, and there was an unexpected peak during this time. The market was unprepared for that, so we were playing catch-up. This year, there's been a noticeably good response with aggressive promotions in countries like Germany, which even sometimes led to market shortages," says Wilco.
© North Bay Produce
He expects stable arrivals until week 48. "After that, supplies from Peru will decline rapidly. We have a fairly short peak that will drop sharply from December. Then the market may, thus, well become tight again." A new development is that North Bay Europe is also focusing more on raspberry and blackberry cultivation in Europe and Africa. "That offers a nice addition to our overseas package," Wilco concludes.
For more information:
Wilco Arts
North Bay Produce Europe
+31 (0) 615 521 989
[email protected]
www.northbayproduce.com
