May 24, 2018

US frozen blueberries inventory looks healthy

U.S. frozen blueberries inventory showed a healthy decrease in April before the 2018 harvest, according to an industry group’s report.

The North American Blueberry Council (NABC) reported 114.7 million pounds of frozen blueberries were in cold storage at the end of April – the lowest the figure had been for that time of the year since 2012. U.S. cold storage held 184.3 million pounds of frozen blueberries at the end of April 2017, and 154.1 million pounds in April 2016, 133.8 million pounds in 2015, and 117 million pounds in April 2014.

The reported holdings of frozen blueberries decreased by 19.7 million pounds in April 2018 alone – more than in previous years. The decreased storage leaves increased space for the coming harvest.

“This is pretty much all good news,” NABC wrote in its report. “And now the 2018 North American crop harvest will start impacting these figures. Since production capacity has increased a lot since that 2012 (low inventory) figure, it will be telling how much cold storage will increase over the next few months.”