Berries Market Digest w12

Weekly Berries Market Updates

Main Price Movements in the EU

Southern European supply once again dominated the main European wholesale markets last week, leading to receding strawberry and blueberry prices. The favorable prices did not significantly move buyers, so they were slow to absorb the supplied quantities, even moving toward the end of the week. As a result, it did not uptake a rebounding trend throughout the week. 

AgrarMarkt Austria recently published data showcasing a 28% MoM decrease in wholesale strawberry prices in February, although prices remain approximately 14% higher than the same period last year. Regarding raspberries, our discussions with operators worldwide are dominated by complaints about poor production outcomes and supply shortages, causing price climbs. A similar situation occurred in German wholesale markets, as we can see below using data from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. 

Portugal is a country playing an increasingly important regional role in the supply side of the berries market. In the last five years, the country's fruit exports to Spain have increased by 71%, with raspberries and blueberries contributing significantly to this development. 

As for blueberries, our agents active in the fresh produce wholesale market of Rungis, France, report that their price has rebounded to the high level of previous weeks.

Fundamental Disturbances in the Industrial Raspberries Segment

There is a very poor outlook for the upcoming Raspberry season in Poland. Not only are the production volumes expected to be insignificant, but the domestic sector is receiving relentless competition from Ukrainian exports, both for dessert and industrial raspberries. The Polish minister of agriculture recently gave a very candid description of the current situation, highlighting that trade with Ukraine is unavoidable.

Throughout our experience in berries trading, we have always regarded Poland as the world's most important player in the industrial raspberry segment. However, developments like the aforementioned ones are putting the country's position in question, giving way to advancements in the flourishing Moroccan raspberry sector.

World Water Day

Today marks the annual commemoration of the UNESCO-recognized World Water Day. This celebration stands as a great opportunity to once again remind all operators across agricultural supply chains, especially those active in primary production, of the crucial importance that efficient water management bears. Under the current climate crisis that plagues agricultural production worldwide, water can be both a blessing and a curse.

We have seen in our Olive Oil Digest newsletter series that the olive grove-rich southern regions of Spain suffered from water scarcity, rendering the watering of olive groves very difficult and suffering from limited output for one more season. In contrast, coupled with abrupt temperature climbs, rainfalls in early February in Spain caused quality problems for many strawberry cultivations, with many fruits ending up rotting and being discarded.

Thus, new sustainable solutions are needed to decrease both the environmental impact and resource needs of agricultural production sites. Daily experience in the world markets shows that there are even very small initiatives that can be adopted and bring robust favorable results in the short run. A great example which is also relevant to the berries sector lies in many recent scientific studies which report that we might have always been refridgerating fresh produce in unnecessarily low temperatures, emitting higher levels of greenhouse gases than needed. Tuning refrigerators to three degrees Celsious higher could bring about immediate benefits with minimal impact on the safety of products.