Southern Europe is a market where the average consumer is familiar with a wide range of fruits; however, berries, and blueberries in particular, are not very popular in Spain, Portugal, France or southern Italy. According to Javier Rico, "consumption per person in this area is of around 5 grams per year, so the potential for growth is huge."
Regarding competition with the local production of countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany or the UK, Javier Rico affirms that, in reality, "of all their blueberry designations of origin, only the production in north Spain competes directly with the central European production; however, quite curiously, most of our fruit is sold in those markets during the European summer. That proves consumption grows significantly in the summer and that local producers are then unable to meet demand in their respective countries."
The trader Euroberry, which belongs to the Hortifruit Group, is able to supply berries during every week of the year thanks to its wide range of varieties and to the fact that it owns plantations in both hemispheres.
We asked Javier Rico about types of packaging for Christmas; a special time of the year for berries. "Our packaging strategy is more focused, on the one hand, on making our best berry varieties stand out with different and clearly distinct types of packaging, and on the other hand, on attracting customers to the larger-sized packages during the stages when production peaks. What is true is that the consumption of berries grows strongly during Christmas, as a large segment of the market identifies them as special products for special occasions."
For more information:
Javier Rico (Manager)
EUROBERRY
T: (+34) 954 932 317
[email protected]
www.euroberry.com