China blueberry market, still huge window of opportunities

Twinkle Star Berry general manager Huan Zhang gave an excellent overview of the Chinese blueberry market during the 5th Morocco International blueberry conference in Agadir last November 14th. Located in Xi’an, Ph.D Huan Zhang  graduated at the Washington State University (US). He became a recognized expert in the cultivation and marketing of blueberries in China. He has been advising the majority of the largest investment projects of blueberries in China, both promoted by domestic and international groups.

China the blue star

Started cultivating the variety in the 80’s, China became by far the largest blueberry grower with an estimated 84,420ha in 2023, for about 563,460 tons. It still shows a strong growth potential, its blueberry plantations grew 27% in the last 3 years alone. US comes second with 46,709ha for about 282,820 tons harvested, Peru about 20,000ha, Chile 18,071ha, Poland 12.594. Morocco is now on the map of the Top10 blueberry growers in the World after Spain, with 4,300ha planted and about 56,000 tons of production. It also shows the strongest plantation growth, with about 50% more blueberry orchards between 2020 and 2023 (2850 in 2020).

30,000 tons of blueberry imports

Chine blueberry imports grew continuously until 2022, when more than 40,000 tons were received. China reduced its procurement of blueberries from other countries in 2023 with about 30,000 tons imported, mainly due to problems of supplies from Peru in particular. China still shows high potential for import growth, since it represents less then 10% of the domestic consumption. E-commerce is one of the key drivers of Chinese consumption of imported goods, inclusive fresh produce. About 500 million consumers are buying online. E-commerce may represent about 24% of the retail sales. China consumption of blueberries is estimated about 0,4 kg/person/year in 2023, It is forecasted to double in the 5 years and may be reach 0,8Kg/person/year by 2028, according to USDA and Rabobank estimates.

Strawberry still the most popular

With 140,000ha of cultivated area and about 4 million tons marketed, strawberries are still by far the most popular berries in China. The growing harvest goes from November until May, mainly with Japanese, Korean and Chinese genetics. Generally sweet, aromatic, colourful with low yield, they are fully designed for the domestic market, not suitable for long distance.

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