As the blueberry harvest winds down in the Pacific Northwest, growers anticipate the last bit of picking will go by quickly. Supplies will continue to go down in the coming weeks, and prices for good quality fruit will likely increase.
“It's going to be an early finish for blueberries in the Northwest because of high heat,” said Jeff Malensky with Oregon Berry Packing. “We're definitely in the last part of the season.” Supplies are light, and they will continue to go down as the harvest winds down.
Those light supplies have made for strong pricing. On August 23, prices for a flat of pints filled with medium and large blueberries from Oregon and Washington were between $22.00 and $27.00. Good prices, however, are not available for all fruit.
“There's a lot of stored fruit that the market is working off,” Malensky explained. “There's not a lot of fruit left to pick, so good quality fruit is finding a higher paying market. If it's not great quality, then the market is not improving a whole bunch because people can work off stored fruit; it's almost a separate market for high quality fruit.”
For more information:
Jeff Malensky
Oregon Berry Packing
+1 503 640 2313