Late summer a busy time for berry exports
The late-season offshore market for berries is growing — some as a result of unanticipated supply fluctuations and some, a sign of long-term market development.
A supply shortfall in Europe brought some calls for blueberries to Redondo Beach, Calif.-based Gourmet Trading Co., said Luciano Fiszman, blueberry category manager.
“For the first time ever, we shipped out of Oregon to the U.K., because there was a shortage in Poland,” he said.
Asia is a more traditional destination, Fiszman said.
“We always ship out of Oregon and B.C. into Asia,” he said. “We have a sales office that promotes our product in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.”
In general, offshore demand is growing steadily, Fiszman said.
Watsonville, Calif.-based Well-Pict Inc., which has a late-season raspberry and strawberry deal out of Oxnard, Calif., sends a portion of that production to Asia, as well, said Jim Grabowski, director of marketing.
“For the late-summer/early-fall deal, we’ll send a fairly substantial amount to Japan,” he said.
Sunrise, Fla.-based Fresh Results LLC, ships “a tremendous amount of production” out of British Columbia, Oregon and California to Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim, said Eric Crawford, president.
This year, the export market is strong, Crawford said.
“All over the world this year, demand exceeds supply,” he said, noting Europe had freeze issues at about the same time a mid-March freeze knocked out much of Georgia’s blueberry crop.
Watsonville, Calif.-based CBS Farms has an active European market during its late-season strawberry production, said Charlie Staka, operations manager.
A partnership between the Vancouver, British Columbia-based Oppenheimer Group and New Zealand exporter T&G Group has fed late-season export markets, said Jason Fung, Oppy’s berry category development director.
“The Asian, Southeast Asian and Austro-Asian markets continue to have more and more share,” he said.
“We’re learning tons from those guys about how those export markets work, what has to happen in different protocols across different countries.”
China also is opening up, said Cindy Jewell, vice president of marketing with Watsonville, Calif.-based California Giant Berry Farms.
“Several in the industry are flirting with the recent opportunities that have opened up in the China market, and we are still in the early stages of exploring that option,” she said.
For some, export opportunities are limited.
“We’ll do a little bit to Asia, but demand is so strong in North America, it’s a risk you don’t want to take,” said Andy Tudor, vice president of business development with Yakima, Wash.-based Rainier Fruit Co., whose late-season production focuses on organic blueberries.
The major offshore markets for U.S. highbush blueberries are Japan, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, said Mark Villata, executive director of the Folsom, Calif.-based U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.
“We are currently working to gain market access for U.S. fresh blueberries to the Philippines, Vietnam and China,” he said. “These three markets currently allow shipments of frozen U.S. highbush blueberries but do not allow imports of fresh U.S. blueberries. They each offer strong potential, with China projected to be a major market once they start importing our fresh blueberries.”
