This 2024 soft fruit growing season turned out to be generally good for Serbia, but the export markets have not played along to reward the good quality of especially blueberries. This is according to Sanja Larsson, CEO and owner of Serbian soft fruit grower and exporter Pureberry, "It was an interesting season this year while every year there's something else that comes up. Last year we had lots of rain. This year the prices were low when the quality was awesome. The net results are overall better due to the quality we were able to produce. The climate of Serbia brings a lot of challenges."
She says with a slightly earlier start to their blueberry season due to warmer weather, the timing to markets was just not right. They had to compete with both Spanish and Moroccan origin. "We started the season in the middle of the Spanish and Moroccan production. This made it very tough for us. The pricing was very poor. Usually we have about 10 days when the prices are ok. That never happened this year and has put this feeling among all producers in Serbia wondering how economically feasible is this crop, because it does require a high level of investment. Last year we harvested 1,200 tons at Pureberry, next year we plan on doing 1,500 tons focused on quality."
Helping Serbian growers
Larsson says given what has happened with blueberry growing again this year she is focused on helping growers in Serbia. "Our company is the largest and we're focusing on the wellbeing of all the Serbian producers. Because we have such large building for logistics and ensure the perfect cold chain from the field to final customer. What's lacking in our country is the technology for good growing, unless growers learn every day you lose it. I want to create cross country best practices. Serbia does not have anybody with enough practical experience. While we have agricultural training facilities there's not enough experience in practice that's why we don't see how we'll be able to maintain and increase our yield as an industry. We decided to take it on ourselves to improve the well-being of Serbian growers. It's in our own interest to bring in a higher yield per hectare for blueberry plants."
She hopes to do this by connecting with good producers in Spain. "The aim is to connect where we're not competing, but that has its challenges. Although the climate is not the same, but I think in Northern Spain there would be some interesting collaboration. They start harvesting at the end of May, they're going to move even earlier, which means we could be very compatible. I don't want the support of commercial people trying to sell plants. We are looking for other producers to share best practices. In Serbia, our growing of blueberries is done mostly in pots. This requires a lot of precision; it's like cooking a good meal."
Serbian raspberries
Larsson says the raspberry crop in Serbia is not grown in sufficient quantities for exporting. "Towards the end of August, we still have some raspberries, but not in large quantities. And these are mostly for the local market. We tested the European market with small volumes, just checking whether we could expand on it. Our business initially started with raspberries, but the pricing makes it quite complicated. You just never know what you're going to get, and with the blueberry window we switched over to this crop instead."
Raspberry growing in Serbia varies a lot, says Larsson, just like strawberries. "We are known for our frozen raspberry industry. These are grown in tunnels and glass houses. It is a very small crop in Serbia. We basically have a few club varieties and some open ones available, but for an average producer it's intricate and hard to take on large production," concludes Larsson.
For more information:
Sanja Larsson
Pureberry
Tel: +33 6 23 671 857
Email: [email protected]
www.pureberry.rs