Berries Market Digest w9

Weekly Berries Market Updates

Main Price Movements in the EU

We concentrate our attention on the German and French wholesale markets, which bear the highest commercial interest for us at the moment. Regarding the former, what our agents on the field report back is the fact that Spanish produce of strawberries and raspberries has lost its relative significance in commercial transactions, with volumes traded falling and prices receding.

Behind this movement lies the limited availability and low quality of current Spanish offerings. Weather abnormalities are the primary factor to blame. Drought is still affecting southern Spain's fruit-rich regions, which has led to this year's cumulative production hitting just the 9% mark of total expected output for the season, according to IFAPA Price and Markets Observatory. This level is much lower than the 20% mark typically hit at this time in previous years. Furthermore, the rains we reported on week 6 made the produce harvested after that point highly sensitive, leading to suboptimal coloring, degraded quality, and high waste during transportation and handling.

As the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture comments, the demand for strawberries in the past week was increasingly covered by Italian imports, which are of better quality, so much that some suppliers of Spanish and Greek fruits had to make loss-leader offers to boost their sales. As a result, Spanish prices were significantly lower than last week, whereas the prices for Greek offerings showed diverse movements.

A similar image is painted by the reports of the French Market News Network for the mean wholesale prices in the Rungis market, with the price of Spanish strawberries receding. At the same time, Moroccan raspberries, which play a significant role in meeting demand during this part of the season, and blueberry imports from third countries, are following in this negative direction.

Opportunities Arising from Developments in International Trade Flows

The blueberry sector is also facing turbulence this season. One of the world's most important producers and the top supplier of Europe, Peru, is up against severe production shortfalls. Output volumes recorded are 24% less in comparison to the previous season.

The resulting supply gap in the market for this highly sought-after fruit is served from internal sources in the EU. The consistent gauging of market trends has helped Polish operators pinpoint the opportunities in this constantly growing market. Consumer demand for blueberries used to overcome supply capabilities even when the big third-country players were strong participants in the game. Additionally, it has now become evident to market-conscious players that the consequences of climate change and tensions can undermine the trade connections between European and third-country countries at no time.

The previous prompted Polish operators to expand their blueberry production. As a result, the 2023/24 season's volumes so far have surpassed the total output of the previous season by almost 23%.

Innovative Initiatives Lead the Way

As mentioned last week, the current landscape in agricultural value chains is characterized by numerous challenges and demanding expectations that operators of all kinds need to cope with to triumph. The hottest aspect of this new landscape lies in the trouble caused by climate change; this spans not just production and trade but also the need for companies to prove themselves to their socially and environmentally conscious target markets.

Companies that successfully navigate this situation as leaders strive to minimize their environmental footprint while incurring minimum damage to the efficiency of their production processes. Innovation is vital; hopefully, we are noticing a significant surge in businesses heavily investing in sustainable initiatives. The investments more relevant to berries cultivation are those linked to solar greenhouses, which allow the cultivation of certain crops under suboptimal conditions, as well as agro-photovoltaics, which leave room for simultaneous agricultural and energy production. It is self-evident that "fruitful" innovations on this frontier need to respect the special characteristics of the fruits considered; some of the aforementioned initiatives in the berries sector, for example, stem from those fruits' limited need for sunlight compared to alternative fruit crops.

These steps are part of the FoodTech revolution in food production, handling, distribution, and consumption. Wikifarmer is a proud member of this highly innovative family striving to uncover novel ways to cater to humanity's most basic needs while protecting it from its biggest threats. As part of our nomination among the top FoodTech companies in the world, we have expanded on the nature and positive impact of FoodTech in a special edition.