The harvest of Portuguese blueberries has concluded, but that doesn't mean the work is done, says Lourenço de Botton, of Portuguese fresh produce exporter Logofruits: "Our harvest ended two weeks ago and in general it was a wonderful season. We were able to have a steady and healthy price throughout the season and are now at the part of the season where we provide services to our clients. We have various suppliers whom we've worked with in the past, who are coming back to us for sorting, packing and cold storage services."
Despite the weather slowing down the early part of the season, de Botton feels it has helped the overall pacing. "It was definitely a strange year with a lot of rain at the beginning, resulting in a slow and late start to the season. Looking at the bright side, we ended up not having such a concentrated peak and maintained high volumes for a longer period of time. We felt a very strong demand as the search for blueberries continue to increase throughout Europe. Given our high standard and good quality fruit, we were rewarded by our partners for this."
According to de Botton, production has grown this season, but most notably the amount of lower quality fruit has decreased: "In terms of volumes we maintained a steady increase when compared to the previous years, whilst at the same time reduced the percentage of second and third quality fruit. We focused on the same markets as the previous years, as we have very strong bonds with our current partners/clients. At the same time, and with the increase of quantity of fruit we have been able to dedicate more kilos to the Portuguese domestic market."
Looking ahead, the time of providing packaging, sorting and other services is now the focus of Logofruits. "We make continuous investments in the fields, searching for higher productivity, reduced costs and trying to be as efficient as possible in terms of water consumption. At this stage of the year we have shifted our focus to the service providing. We have a strong component of sorting and packing services and we keep on searching for more partners for this part of the year," de Botton concludes.
For more information:
Lourenço de Botton
Logofruits
Tel: +351 914 666 661
Email: [email protected]