THE BLUEBERRY 🫐 WAR ON THE HORIZON

 

Probably one of the greatest stories in the Produce industry in the past ten 🔟 years is the phenomenal growth of Blueberries 🫐 and Avocado 🥑… Consumption has sky rocketed for both of these commodities while other crops in the Tropical world 🌎 (Think Banana 🍌 mango 🥭 and pineapple 🍍) have stagnated… This is due in large part to the KETO DIET … which means that there are very few fruits and vegetables that are not sugar, Carbohydrates, and can be consumed without affecting our bodies in a negative way …  These two 2️⃣ commodities have benefitted amazingly… now here is the rub: Avocado 🥑 is not the same across the board nutritionally ..so that there are big differences in demand for different cultivars … and the big winner in the avocado 🥑 world 🌎 is the HASS avocados 🥑 add to this the fact that HASS AVOCADOS don’t perform the same from a physiological point of view around the world 🌎 

 Avocado 🥑 is believed to have originated in modern day Guatemala 🇬🇹 where the term ahautl or aguacate 🥑 comes from AND the region of PALTA in Ecuador 🇪🇨!!!… which very few people know (By the Way) …

In addition to this, we owe a huge debt of gratitude 🙏 to Wilson Popenoe for discovering and promoting the Avocado 🥑!!!…Among his many talents Dr Popenoe is famous for founding the Pan American University in Honduras 🇭🇳 known as Zamorano…… but we will save that story for another episode with our dear friend Ron Sergio Cedeño Amador…

Our story today is about the pending Blueberry 🫐 war which is beginning to brew as we speak … Peru 🇵🇪 thanks to incredible promotion work done by then Minister for Agriculture and Promotion; Alfonso (Pocho) Velásquez Tuesta has grown at an amazing rate over the past fifteen years from zero 0️⃣ production to over twenty thousand hectares of production!!!

Thanks 🙏 to industry giants in Peru 🇵🇪 such as CAMPOSOL… Peru 🇵🇪 today is ranked as the 🌎 world’s largest exporter of Blueberries 🫐… 

This explosion 💥 of exports from Peru 🇵🇪 has rearranged who the players in the Market place are … Blueberries 🫐 originated in North America and USA 🇺🇸 and Canada 🇨🇦 have dominated production over the years … then New Zealand 🇳🇿 then Chile 🇨🇱 … and now here we are with more and more Blueberries 🫐 flooding the market place … unlike avocados 🥑 that seem to know no end in the market place … Blueberries 🫐 are finally starting to to meet resistance in the market place…

Now please notice that I mentioned that Peru 🇵🇪 is currently the largest  EXPORTER in the World 🌎 with twenty thousand hectares of blueberries 🫐… but that doesn’t make them the largest grower or consumer of Blueberries 🫐 in the world 🌎…. As you probably already know… that honor goes to China 🇨🇳 with an estimated two 2️⃣ hundred thousand hectares of blueberries 🫐!!! … and every single blueberry 🫐 is consumed in China 🇨🇳!!!!… and there is a deficit of  blueberries 🫐 and that is where China 🇨🇳 imports the deficit 💸 from the rest of the world 🌎… 

Now here is where we get to the HEART OF THE MATTER : UNLIKE avocados 🥑… Blueberries 🫐 grow almost EVERYWHERE on the planet 🌎 … not content with the current model … China has planted an additional sixty thousand hectares of blueberries 🫐!!!!… keep in mind the additional planting alone (some sixty thousand hectares) ..EXCEEDS all of the Blueberries  🫐 for EXPORT in the rest of the world 🌎!!!!!…. 

SO WITH THE EXTRA ACREAGE OF BLUEBERRIES 🫐 …. China 🇨🇳 has decided to compete with the rest of the world 🌎 in the export market!!!!…to compound the issue …. USA 🇺🇸 has decided to get back into the blueberry 🫐 market where Blueberry 🫐 originated and now with the potential of Tariffs… will probably sink every blueberry 🫐 exporter in the world 🌎!!!… This is about to get very messy to say the least …