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tight in supply,” says Naturipe’s Roberts. Beyond this, he adds, “We will continue to see berry production in both Mexico and Peru grow at double digits for the next three to ve years. ere are numerous countries around the world planting berries, as the global trend is now following the U.S. market as it relates to berry consumption. e health halo and consistently good eating experience have really been a driving force across the globe and, as such, there are new plantings
occurring on just about every continent.
“In terms of the U.S. market, Morocco and Colombia are likely to be added to the mix. However, Mexico will remain the domi- nant player because of their proximity to the United States, which allows them to ship by
truck into every major city.”
More speci cally in terms of individual
berries, strawberries from Mexico are among those that have shown the strongest increases in consumption over the past two years as it relates to imported berries, according to Roberts.
Some 99.4 percent of strawberries imported in the United States during the 2017-2018 season were from Mexico, according to August 2018 USDA ERS data.
“We have cultivated a key relationship with Mainland Farms in Mexico and import strawberries from Oct. 15 through March 31, as well as blackberries and blueberries under the Red Blossom label,” says Craig Casca, chief executive and owner of Red Blossom, in Los Olivos, CA.
Chile leads o shore blueberries, repre- senting 43.66 percent of this fruit imported to the United States during the 2017-2018 season, according to USDA ERS data. Mexico is next at 23.25 percent, followed by Peru at 12.24 percent.
“We start the import season with blue- berries from Argentina and Peru in early September,” explains Tom Richardson, the Long Beach, CA-based senior vice president of global development for e Giumarra Companies. “We have increasing volume from Mexico and then move into a large program from Chile. We cover the entire import season from beginning to end.”
e company expects to have its biggest blueberry increase this season out of Peru,
98 / OCTOBER 2018 / PRODUCE BUSINESS