Guest article by Diego Castagnasso, a fresh produce and blueberry industry expert. Loud, opinionated, INFORMED! Diego, writes DC’s B-Side's newsletter as he speaks and speaks as he writes. You can subscribe, under your own peril, to his newsletter here or visit his less fun (for now) website Drip Consulting.

That is the question in MANY blueberry importer's minds right now…Some might be doing numbers late at night waiting for information from their procurement people in the field.

Others might be traveling themselves to visit the farms, some might be going to South Africa, Peru, Argentina, and some even Chile…

Isn’t it a bit too early to get fruit from Chile?
It is!! but there is no fruit out there…
…well, not enough anyways!

So, if you have been following last week's recipe you would know that Peru is still behind their forecast volumes but in the same neighborhood as last year’s export volumes.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.

(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

But, and this is more than 50% “but”, the difference is still big from 2022’s volume. The main issue here… there is a GAP between what the market needs and the fruit that is out there ready to be imported or bought at the “local” market.

The volumes in the northern hemisphere are getting down fast and the southern hemisphere is not moving up fast enough, so no one can close the GAP, for now.

Take Argentina for example…

A month ago I wrote about the the cold weather that affected the country…

Well, the weather got better so deals and programs were made, and fruit started flying…
Some pallets to the US, others to Europe, and a few to Israel too.But…

…MY GOD how many “buts” are you going to use?
As many as I need…

BUT, But, but the weather got cold again, and not only that, it got cloudy and rainy too.
And… that is making it difficult for the fruit to get its full color, delaying the shipments.

…Is that affecting all of Argentina's production regions?
Yes!  Although Concordia seems to be doing a bit better and has already shipped some volumes, while slowly getting speed.

….What can you tell us about the prices?
Let’s say that as the weather gets colder the prices get hotter.

….and if you want to know more you just need to Schedule a CALL

Have a Great Weekend!!!

And remember, if you liked what you read, send it to a friend!PS: You might be asking yourself, why not go to Australia or New Zealand?
Fair question… but although those countries are in the southern hemisphere and are producing countries, they don’t export that much volume and they go to other markets,

PS1: My congratulations to the new Proarandanos Peru Board, they seemed to be better at making forecasts than the previous board
Just a joke!! or not, we’ll see.

PS2: The gap is more like the Mariana Trench right now.

PS3: When I say cold is not as bad as last time but enough, with some days even below zero in Concordia. Tucuman is still recovering from the losses caused by the previous freezing temperatures.