This year is shaping up as another strong year for Australian blueberries, with early harvesting of some varieties showing fruit of good size and quality.
“Shipping begins in early September: the season is well underway domestically and the crop set looks good. The quality and the fruit-set look very good,” Berry Exchange’s Peter McPherson told Fruitnet.com.
“All of our Australian-bred Southern Highbush, early-season varieties are looking excellent for export.”
Mr McPherson said growing conditions in the Coffs Harbour region, where the majority of Australia’s blueberry stocks are sourced, have been good, and all indicators are positive for exports.
“We can do 300,000-400,000 trays a season, anything from 500-700 tonnes of fruit per year,” Mr McPherson detailed.
“Japan is still the main market, taking around 40 per cent of supply. South East Asia takes around 20 per cent, and the other 40 per cent goes to Europe, the UK in particular.”
Mr McPherson said increased competition from South America was of concern to the industry, but maintained that the high quality of produce grown in Australia helped it hold its own in global markets.
“We’ve got a high cost of labour here in Australia versus Argentina and Chile, but we’ve been able to maintain our market share at the higher end of the quality market,” he asserted.
“For instance, we do a programme with Marks and Spencer each year in the UK to market our blueberries there.”
One of the big developments for Berry Exchange this year was the partnering of the company with Driscoll’s, in a bid to create a year-round berry supply for the Australian domestic market.
“Domestically, we’re the major supplier to Driscoll’s Australia and we’ll be looking to underpin the first season under the Driscoll’s label,” he said.
The company is investing heavily in research and development, and the breeding programme it is involved in is making strong headway in the US.
“Our breeding programme is progressing very well - we’re finally licensing all of Berry Exchange’s genetics,” Mr McPherson explained.
“We’ve got some of the leading early-season blueberry varieties in the world, and we’ve licensed those to Driscoll’s to grow for the entire Americas.
“They’ll be ideally suited to grow in a number of areas including Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Southern Florida.”
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