With the berry supply from Mexico well underway, Gerardo López of Produce Lovers takes a look at what to expect on raspberries and blackberries this season.
Raspberries: Early estimates are that the total volume of raspberries coming out of Mexico this season will be 10-12 percent lower than last year. "That's basically because many farms could not get the plants for this season from some marketing companies and some nurseries. That will probably affect some companies more than others in terms of availability of fruit," says López.
Produce Lovers began its season on raspberries out of Jalisco about 10 days ago. "We're shipping Clarita, Amalia and we've planted our first farm with a variety called Rafiki," López says. The latter comes from Advanced Berry Breeders and as a berry that has got high tolerance for high temperatures, it's an advancement on the Kwanza® berry. "We're very hopeful that this variety will work well in Mexico and be accepted by the market," he says.
Blackberries: The supply of blackberries looks to be at approximately the same level as last year at this time.
As for growing regions in Mexico, blackberries are coming out of Michoacan and Produce Lovers is shipping Sultana blackberries. "We have also planted the first hectare of a new variety called Jumbo Queen which is developed in Italy by Berry Tech," says López. "We're expecting the fruit to be big, very sweet, and one of the best-eating varieties." The first fruit of this variety will come by the end of October.
While historically Produce Lovers held back on shipping both types of berries during the rainy season in Mexico from early to mid-June to late September, this year it decided on an earlier start. That means blackberries started about a month ago and raspberries saw their first shipment from origin on August 24.
As for berry demand, blackberries are seeing very good demand because the fruit supply is limited. Raspberries are seeing an increase in demand for Mexican fruit given the California season is winding down.
All of this is leaving pricing for blackberries on the stronger side given that limited supply and that should remain the same in the next few weeks while raspberry pricing is average. "Last season we reached mid-$30s and right now, we're in the low $20s," says López.
For more information:
Gerardo López
Produce Lovers
Tel: +1 (305) 407 3891
[email protected]
https://www.producelovers.com/