Blueberries offer year-round promotion opportunities, but summer sales are tops

Retailers can promote blueberries any week of the year — and they do.

The USDA’s retail data shows retail blueberry promotions in every month of 2022, but the top week for promotions was the week of Aug. 5, according to the USDA retail report.

For that week, the USDA said 24,270 stores ran an ad for conventional fresh blueberries, well ahead of the second-place tally of 21,830 stores promoting blueberries the week of May 27.

The number of retail stores promoting blueberries in 2022 ranged from a low of 7,180 stores the week of May 6 to the pinnacle of 24,270 stores the week of Aug. 5.

The USDA said the top weeks in 2022 for fresh blueberry retail promotions were:

• Aug. 5: 24,270 stores promoting at an average price of $1.80.
• May 27: 21,8309 stores promoting at an average price of $1.92.
• July 22: 21,546 stores promoting at an average price of $1.56.
• Oct. 21: 18,702 stores promoting at an average price of $1.60.
• Dec. 16: 18,188 stores promoting at an average price of $1.60.
• Jan. 7: 17,918 stores promoting at an average price of $1.70.
• Sept. 2: 17,298 stores promoting at an average price of $1.80.
• June 24: 17,142 stores promoting at an average price of $1.72.
• Nov. 11: 16,822 stores promoting at an average price of $1.72.

July was the top month for U.S.-grown supply of blueberries, according to 2022 USDA truck shipment data.

That month, U.S. shippers moved 39 million pounds of blueberries, compared with only 200,000 pounds in February and no reported shipments in January. Domestic blueberry shipments reported by the USDA totaled 169.8 million pounds in 2022.

As a percent of total annual 2022 domestic shipments, the top months for domestic blueberry shipments in 2022 were:

• July: 23%.
• June: 22%.
• May: 22%.
• August: 14%.
• April: 12%.

At 526.3 million pounds, the U.S. import supply of fresh blueberries in 2022 was more than three times the total domestic volume of blueberries shipped, according to the USDA.

The low point for the import volume of fresh blueberries was July, when the USDA reported only 3 million pounds of imported blueberries, compared with 70.6 million pounds imported in February, the top month for imports.

As a percent of total annual import volume, the top months for imported fresh blueberry shipments were:

• February: 13%.
• September: 12%.
• November: 12%.
• October: 12%.
• March: 11%.
• December: 10%.
• January: 9%.

Looking at total 2022 domestic and imported blueberry volumes, here are the top suppliers of blueberries, by month, according to the USDA:

• January: Chile.
• February: Chile.
• March: Mexico.
• April: Mexico.
• May: Mexico.
• June: North Carolina.
• July: Oregon.
• August: Canada.
• September: Canada.
• October: Peru.
• November: Peru.   
• December: Peru.