Fresh blueberry exports from Chile totalled 88,400 tonnes between January and early March, which is a new record.

This figure is 23% higher than that of the same period last season and 5% higher than in the 2012-2013 campaign, as reported by the Chilean Blueberry Committee.

 According to Andrés Armstrong, executive director of the Blueberry Committee, the season will still last for a few weeks and the upward trend should continue in the coming years. He also stated that they expect to exceed 89,000 tonnes and reach 91,000 by the end of the season.

 “This, on the one hand, is due to the fact that Chilean blueberry plantations have yet to reach their full production capacity, which increases every year, and on the other hand, to the new plantings, which although fewer in number than in previous years, serve to introduce varieties with higher yields,” he explained.

 In this regard, he pointed out that the figures should continue increasing every year, considering the greater productivity of young plants and the incorporation of more productive varieties. He added that last season this growth rate was affected by frosts in September 2013.

 Another factor that affected the country’s exports last year was the restriction enforced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the import of blueberries from Regions VI, VII and VIII due to the presence of Lobesia botrana and the port strikes.