Chilean blueberry season in full swing
Chilean blueberry season in full swing
Chilean blueberries have gotten off to a slower start than expected, but since Week 51 weekly shipments to the United States and Canada have been higher than last season. In fact, during Week 5, the U.S. market will see a new historic high for weekly arrivals, with more than 6,000 tons of Chilean blueberries entering the market.
Recent strong arrivals will not completely compensate for lower volumes at the front end of the Chilean blueberry season, but the gap between this season’s volume and last year’s has rapidly diminished.
While Europe and Asia have seen decreases of 18 percent and 15 percent, respectively, North America’s volume has decreased by just 2 percent. Exports through Week 3 to North America reached 42,453 tons, or 68 percent of Chile’s total season to date blueberry exports.
To support the strong arrivals of blueberries to this market, the Chilean Blueberry Committee has launched a range of promotions throughout North America, giving everyone even more reasons to pick up these little blue dynamos. Throughout the winter months, the CBC will be running numerous tailored retail promotions and social media contests, as well as introducing new point-of-sale and usage images. The CBC has also produced new recipe and orchard videos to engage consumers in the story of Chilean blueberries.
“We want to increase winter consumption of fresh Chilean blueberries,” Karen Brux, North America managing director of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association, said in a press release. “The videos are short and direct, but we’ve also designed them to be personal and engaging. Our goal is to use just one minute to bring the world of Chilean blueberries to consumers, and another minute to demonstrate a really great tasting recipe that anyone can easily make. It’s all about delivering more reasons to eat more Chilean blueberries.”
