Agronometrics in Charts: 2022: Strawberries in Review
By
| 5 January 2023
In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, Valeria Concha reviews 2022 for strawberries in the US market. 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.
This year, a Rabobank study revealed that while the U.S. market is considered mature by some, strawberry consumption has continued to grow and shows high household penetration. Strong consumer demand has driven a higher level of imports and has encouraged increased acreage for several years in California. As a result, early season strawberry availability was expected to improve in 2022, with prices likely to remain stable. However, in the short term, some level of uncertainty, volatility and high input costs were expected. The study also reviewed the long-term trend of controlled environment agriculture and the opportunities it may create for strawberry production in the future. For example some companies have bet on controlled vertical production.
Chris Christian, senior vice president of marketing for the Watsonville, CA-based California Strawberry Commission said that surge in demand can in part be attributed to consumers placing a higher priority on immune-boosting produce, being the strawberries packed-rich with vitamin C. The pandemic drove an increased recognition of the importance of eating fruits and vegetables for health and well-being. She also affirmed that their fall planted acreage was up more than 6 percent over last year, anticipating that their production this spring would be higher than last year. Despite the extreme weather, some agricultural experts reported that production in California was expected to hit its second-highest level on record and extend well into the fall season.
This year, between January and June, fresh volumes from Southern California were 4% higher than those recorded in the U.S. market last year. Between April and September, the volume of strawberries from Central California was 7% higher than the same period last year.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
In late September Florida was impacted by Hurricane Ian, fortunately, about 80% of the industry decided to begin plantings later this year, a week later than normal. But then some had plants ready to go before being sidelined by the storm. In October, Brianne Reichenbach, director of member services at the Florida Strawberry Growers Association, said that Florida producers were fortunate, just depending on where they were, topography wise, overall, there was minimal damage across the board. Florida’s strawberry production for 2022-23 has increased to close to 12,000 acres, Harrell said. In 2021, Florida’s office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service estimated harvested acres at 10,400, with a reported crop value of nearly $400 million.
On the import side, Mexico, the main supplier of strawberries to the United States, expected a season with higher volumes than the previous season, expecting to achieve a 12% increase in blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry exports for the 2022 season. In August, heavy rains ravaged over 400 hectares cultivated with strawberries in Guanajuato. Irapuato was the most affected municipality, with nearly 200 hectares impacted by the torrential rains. Crop losses were also recorded in Pénjamo, Abasolo, Dolores Hidalgo, and Acámbaro. Despite the torrential rains, production in major producing areas such as Jalisco was mostly unaffected. In October, the next season of Mexican strawberries began with small volumes, increasing rapidly to meet Christmas demand. According to engineer José Luis Bustamante, president of the National Association of Berry Exporters of Mexico (Aneberries), the Christmas season is very good for their berries, as demand and prices increase, which helps to offset costs that do not stop rising.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
To learn more take a look at our most read strawberry stories this year:
1. Agronometrics in Charts: Berry prices see magnificent growth year-on-year in U.S. market
3. Agronometrics in Charts: Mexico’s Thriving Berry Industry
4. Agronometrics in Charts: Demand for Organic Berries Booms
5. Costco Shoppers Can’t Get Enough Of These ‘Unreal’ Strawberries
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.
All pricing for domestic US produce represents the spot market at Shipping Point (i.e. packing house/climate controlled warehouse, etc.). For imported fruit, the pricing data represents the spot market at Port of Entry.
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 21 commodities we currently track.
Written by: Valeria Concha
Written by: Valeria Concha
