Thanks to warmer spring temperatures, supplies of blackberries from Mexico will start increasing next month. “It’s been a fairly cool spring until now but we’re feeling like those temperatures will mean we have more fruit available,” says Gerardo López of Produce Lovers. “We’re expecting a spike in May and then most growers will start pruning plants in early June.”
He notes that blackberry production from Mexico could be year-round--however, the rainy season begins in June and goes through the beginning of October. “It rains a lot so having production of any berry during the rainy season is risky,” he says.
While Produce Lovers has been focusing mainly on the Sultana variety of blackberry, it occasionally turns to Tupi, an older variety, to supplement if there’s a shortage though Sultana production tends to be managed by growers to keep supply continuous. “We have growers planting Sultana and growers doing trials with Sultana so for next season, so we will go from 125 hectares to 250 hectares,” says Lopez.
Blueberry production stabilized
Throughout the past six to eight weeks, while there has been good volume on blackberries, demand was very high because of the lack of strawberries and blueberries--which meant more pressure on blackberry and raspberry supplies. “Now that supply of blueberries is stabilizing with fruit from Georgia mainly, prices, which had been very high are going down. The market is shifting downwards on pricing,” says Lopez. “There’s enough fruit from Mexico but it’s just been very very expensive lately.”
In general, the demand for berries continues to grow every year. “We’re six to eight weeks away from finishing the season and then we’ll start mid to early September. We feel confident that demand will be there for berries,” he says. “It’s just a matter of balancing the supply of all berries into the markets. That’s the tricky part.”
For more information:
Gerardo López
Produce Lovers
Tel: +1 (305) 407 3891
gerardo.lopez@producelovers.com
https://www.producelovers.com/