The first exports of US blueberries to South Korea arrived in the Asian nation earlier this month after more than a decade of negotiations.
“We’ve been working on this programme with Korea for the better part of 10 years,” Brian Ostlund the executive director of the Oregon Blueberry Commission told the Packer.
Oregon is the only state cleared to send fruit and must comply with strict protocols including trapping programmes and field surveys.
While Korea imposes a 40.5 per cent tariff, Brian Malensky of Oregon Berry Packing told the Packer growers were accepting of this given they were previously unable to send fruit there.
He added that most growers would take a cautious approach to sending fruit there. “We want to make sure we do everything correctly,” he said.
Oregon could send in excess of 454 tonnes of blueberries there this year, said Ostlund, while the state should produce a total of around 3,175 tonnes.
Korea is a major importer of frozen blueberries and Ostlund told the Packer buyers there had shown considerable interest in Oregon fruit.
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