Agronometrics in Charts: Demand for berries skyrockets in 2021

This time for the ‘In Charts’ series we will give an update as to how the average prices of berries have been behaving. Specifically, we will look at the prices of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries in the United States market and compare them with previous seasons.An increase in demand, brought on by the tendency to consume “superfoods” such as berries during the Covid-19 pandemic, seem to have pushed prices up despite the fact that volumes imported by the United States have been similar or higher than those of previous years. Let’s look at each particular case:

Blueberries

Blueberry prices experienced a significant increase from week 3 of 2021, showing the highest prices of the last 5 seasons for the same date.

If we observe the following chart, we can see that, for week 7 of 2021, the average price of conventional blueberries was $7.60 per kilo. This is 24 percent higher than in 2020 when the average price was $6.14 per kilo.

Volumes for blueberries in the U.S. market during January 2021 were likewise larger, rising 53 percent from those registered in January of 2020. The volumes reaching the North American market come from Chile and Mexico.

Raspberries

Up next, raspberries. These started 2021 with average prices similar to those of the previous year.

As can be observed in the chart below, in week 7 the average price of raspberries was $10.29 per kilo, the same price as in 2020.

Raspberry volumes in the U.S. market during the month of January 2021 were 23 percent higher than those registered in January 2020. Raspberry volumes from the last few weeks of this year have come from Mexico.

Strawberries

The prices of non-organic strawberries have been higher than those of 2020 during every week of 2021.

If we observe the chart below, in week 7 the average price of conventional strawberries was $4.89 per kilo, an 18 percent rise from 2020 when the average price was $4.16 per kilo.

Strawberry volumes in the U.S market in January of 2021, were slightly lower (3 percent) than those registered in 2020. The strawberry volumes of these past weeks of 2021 came from California, Florida y Mexico.

Blackberries

Prices for blackberries have been much higher in 2021 than those of 2020. The prices seen during the first weeks of this year are the highest of the past 5 seasons for the same date.

In the chart below, we can see that in week 7 the average price of conventional blackberries was $8.21 per kilo. This is a 111% rise from 2020 when the average price was $3.90 per kilo.

Blackberry volumes during January 2021 were slightly larger (7 percent) than those of 2020. The volumes that are arriving in the North American market are those from Central America and Mexico.

Written by: Cris
tian Crespo
Original published in FreshFruitPortal.com on February 23, 2020 (Link)