Peru Blueberry Production Season Adjustment, Striving To Achieve Stable Supply

The blueberry season in Peru usually starts in May and lasts until April of the following year. The 2024/25 Peruvian blueberry season began in the 18th week of this year and as of the 24th week, the export volume of fresh blueberries was 936.9 tons, a decrease of 66% from the same period last season's 2792.7 tons.

Luis Miguel Vegas, General Manager of ProAr á ndanos, a Peruvian blueberry growers and exporters association, stated that the fresh blueberry production and export volume this season have decreased compared to the previous season. Although the weather was more normal than the previous season and there were no rare high temperatures, blueberry production was lower in the early stages of the season.

The pruning time for Peruvian blueberries is usually between December 15th and January 15th each year, but in the previous season, due to the El Ni ñ o phenomenon, the blueberry production season was postponed and pruning was delayed by more than 30 days. At the same time, the Peruvian blueberry industry hopes that production can be evenly distributed throughout the year, rather than concentrated in September and October each year, and has made adjustments at the planting end.

Luis stated that the trend in Peru's blueberry industry is for production and supply to become more stable, with production distributed over more weeks of the year, especially during the peak harvest period in October. Usually, in the third quarter, the production of blueberries in Peru accounted for 45% of the production of the current season. The Peruvian blueberry industry will reduce production in the third quarter and increase production in the first quarter to make market supply more stable.