The 2022 Blueberry Season Is Devastating for the South African Industry Due to Logistical Issues

The 2022 blueberry season was challenging for South African producers mainly due to logistical challenges and major price declines. At the peak of the season, the industry was crippled by labor strikes at ports, resulting in a major disruption to the supply-chain process and fruit not reaching international markets. The impact of this created an oversupply in markets once South African blueberries were shipped, and the knock-on effect of these delays resulted in South African berries entering markets at the same time as Peru and Chilean blueberries. Predictions are that many producers will not financially survive the losses, especially regarding pricing indicators during the season which indicated a drop to USD 5/kg and even further in the latter parts of the season to USD 1.87/kg. Conservative estimates indicate that some producers could experience a USD 12,500 loss per hectare of blueberries produced.