In this installment of the ‘In Charts' series, Cristian Crespo of Agronometrics illustrates how the U.S. market is evolving. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

In this week's edition of 'In Charts', we're going to take a look at how the average prices the main four berry categories have been behaving in the U.S. market.

Blueberries

Kicking off with blueberries, which at the beginning of 2020 were seeing some of the lowest prices in year, we can observe that the category has experienced a strong recovery over recent weeks.

In week 9, the average price of conventional blueberries was US$8.31 per kilo, which is 94% higher than in 2019. Prices of fruit from Mexico, the other supplier at this time, are even higher at US$9.36 per kilo.

Average prices of conventional blueberries (USD/KG) in the U.S. market

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Raspberries

Raspberries have also experienced an uptick in pricing over the last few weeks.

As can be seen below, in week 9 the average price was US$10.78 per kilo, putting it 16% up on last year and the highest of all the berries. Mexico is the only supplier at present in the U.S. market.

Average prices of conventional raspberries (USD/KG) in the U.S. market

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Strawberries

Conversely to the previous two categories, strawberries have experienced declining prices over the last six weeks. 

The average price in week 9 was US$2.71 per kilo - 11% lower than 2019 and the lowest of the four berries. Volumes in the market originate in California, Florida and Mexico, and the former is fetching significantly higher prices (US$3.47 per kilo) than the other two.

Average prices of conventional strawberries (USD/KG) in the U.S. market

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Blackberries

Finally, blackberry prices were recently at their lowest level in years, been they've been rising since week 6.

In week 9 they were at US$4.54 per kilo, 9% lower than last year. Volumes in the U.S. market are from Mexico and Central America, with the latter origin fetching the best prices (US$5.64 per kilo).

Average prices of conventional blackberries (USD/KG) in the U.S. market

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.

You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 20 fruits we currently track.