Mexico is a large producer of berries, and the majority of their exported berries are destined for the US market. Aneberries is the National Association of Berry Exporters in Mexico and is made up of 30 producing and exporting companies. “Together, we export 90% of the total volume produced in Mexico, which is mostly strawberries and blackberries, with some smaller volumes of raspberries and blueberries,” says Juan José Flores García of Aneberries.
North America is biggest export market
The berry cultivation is spread out over six states in Mexico, mainly in Baja California, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guanajuato. “The strawberry export to the US runs from October to March, although product for the domestic market continues on into May. Raspberries and blackberries are from September to May, though some members go year-round. The blueberries are generally grown and produced almost year-round,” García shares. He adds: “From September 2019 up until April 6th, 2020, we have exported 237,000 tons of berries to the US, and we hope to continue increasing this number in the coming weeks.”
Mexican berries are exported to 38 countries, but 97% of the exported volume is concentrated between the US and Canada. “1.5% goes to Europe and the rest is exported to countries in the Middle east and Southeast Asia – though Japan is a very important destination for blueberries, receiving more than 800 tons,” García explains.
Fluctuating market this year
Even before the COVID-19 crisis began to take hold of the globe, the berry market has been behaving differently than usual this year, García shares. “The prices fluctuated up and down, and the export volumes have shown highs and lows.”
“After the US guidelines for people to stay at home, the export volumes rose and so did the prices. But after that, in the past two weeks, export volumes and prices decreased drastically. From this week on, we expect both volumes and pricing to continue to decrease. We are entering an uncertain market but there is nothing to indicate we will end the season early,” García adds.
Labor challenges
The biggest challenge the Mexican berry producers are currently facing is a labor shortage. García explains: “At the beginning of the pandemic there was a lot of misinformation and this resulted in many harvest workers leaving or not arriving. Right now, we are still searching to find enough labor for the harvesting, though we have not stopped producing.”
“Our challenge is to build confidence in our buyers so that they can trust that we will continue to produce with the same quality, and, most importantly, care for the health and safety of the field workers. We invite berry producing and exporting companies in Mexico to join Aneberries, so that we can all collaborate as an industry to face these challenges,” García concludes.
Aneberries encompasses 30 berry companies.
For more information:
Juan José Flores García
Aneberries
Tel: +52(33)38133643
Email: [email protected]
www.aneberries.mx
