The increase in blueberries is a reality that has materialised in a 30% increase in crop land.
Within this context, José Gandía, manager of SAT Royal, comments that “we must remain cautious to ensure that this mass production, occurring particularly in the months of April, May and June, does not cause the same consequences as suffered by strawberries a few years ago, when the production was more concerned with grams per plant at the expense of the quality.”
The company from Seville is growing at a rate of 20% per year and its blueberry production is around 8,500 tonnes. This increase is particularly noteworthy with the productions from Morocco and also with the other berries in Portugal and Spain.
Gandía states that “there is fruit on the market that does not correspond to the consumers’ requirements and this campaign will be the first time we experience a situation of this type, since there are varieties that have a very short harvest time and they are either very acidic or very over-ripe. This may disappoint consumers. It is obvious that individual actions affect the sector as a whole, for better or worse.”
Furthermore, Gandía adds, “it should be pointed out that in Spain today, high level research is being carried out on strawberry varieties, but the idea of imposing extra grams per plant on a high quality strawberry that cannot bear this, is going to mean a terrible result.”
Regarding the current stone fruit campaign, the executive explains that “Royal has kept on track, considering flavour and quality above everything else. We don’t know how to work in any other way and the supermarkets have understood our philosophy and start the season off with us.”
