What you need to know about frozen blueberries
It is known that fresh cranberry provides more vitamin C than an orange, and although Chile is the main exporter of blueberries in the Southern Hemisphere, Chileans are not very fond of eating it, perhaps not because of its taste, but because of its high price. Those who do consume it are the Americans, Europeans, Japanese, Australians and Koreans, markets to which Chile conducts its exports of fresh blueberries. But what about the frozen ones?
Chile has an extensive production season for blueberries. It occurs in excellent conditions from Copiapó, in the north of the country, to Chile Chico in the south, and from October to the beginning of April. For each production of this small delicacy there is a percentage that does not meet the requirements of being a fresh export product, and it is precisely this percentage that remains for frozen cranberry.
Gabriel Ormeño, president of Fedefruta's Cranberry Committee, points out that frozen products range from 5 to 10% of total production.
"Its export [fresh cranberry] will depend on several factors, such as weather conditions, type of variety, harvest, its consistency, hardness, size, no damage, and just the one that is frozen is the one that has some damage and can not be exported in this way"Ormeño explained.
"The fresh blueberry, on the other hand, is the one that has the conditions to travel and reach the markets. Boat exports take between 30 and 40 days, and by plane at least 6 days, then this fresh fruit must meet certain requirements, and these requirements are checked daily in the package and in the exporting company so that it arrives in good condition. terms"He added.
The rich frozen
At 2014, a graduate student with a degree in food science from the State University of South Dakota in the USA, he found, after exhaustive research, that frozen blueberries are as nutritious as fresh ones, even after 6 months of freezing.
His experiment consisted in carefully observing the levels of antioxidants in frozen blueberries in the first, third and fifth months, and found no nutritional decrease after comparing them with fresh ones.
"The proportion of blueberries that are exported as frozen has increased during the last seasons"Commented Andrés Armstrong, executive director of the Chilean Blueberry Committee.
"Percentages that a few years ago did not reach the 10% of the total produced, today it is estimated that between the 20% and 25% of the blueberries produced in the country go to some industrial purpose, the most important being the frozen. This is due to several factors, such as the availability of labor in some areas, the post-harvest life of some varieties and also the effect of an increasingly changing climate that in excess of heat or presence of rains during harvests, affects the condition of the fruit for export as fresh"He said.
"This has involved orienting some parts of the harvest (last third for example) to the frozen market, optimizing harvest and material costs, which has enabled the development of a more stable supply for the industry".
Then he continues: "Although our country has an important competitive advantage as a producer against season to the main world markets, there is a space that is more relevant today in the processing industry".
Is that the frozen has several uses that are becoming increasingly popular among consumers.
"The frozen in good conditions is divided into several types, for confectionery, drinks and those in worse conditions for juices. In this case, neither quality nor condition is of interest, and this year in general it had a good return, of at least U $ 1,30, and in some markets it reached U $ 1,5, so it was worth collecting it and selling it.", Says Ormeño.
It should be noted that, apart from the above, there are two agents that affect or stimulate the export of frozen cranberry. The first is the value of the dollar, which has a considerable impact on the business. Ormeño explains that "This year was good because the dollar was on average at $ 620, but the year 2005 was $ 740 and then we reached $ 400 where it was practically a disaster, there was almost no return, not even for fresh blueberries. It was not that the production was bad, but that the dollar was playing against us. Today I can affirm that the dollar is at an equilibrium price for the blueberry producers ".
The second agent is the American stock. "At the end of each season, USA it establishes what the stocks will be, and when these fall, there is greater interest on the part of them to buy frozen. When stocks are very high in the US the prices of our products go down and there is not much interest in buying, nor is it better for us to harvest".
"At this time it is very premature to say what will happen in the future with respect to the frozen, the US season. ends in August and at that time it is known what will be the prices that are going to be paid in Chile for the cranberry of discarded or frozen", Concludes the expert.
Your added value
The facts are all around us, the market is prepared for a consistent supply of frozen blueberries. The fashion of polybags for retail, smoothies and niche confectionery is growing and supply availability is required for each of them.
Alifrut is a food and fruit company known in the Chilean market for its Minuto Verde frozen food brand. His export manager, Alejandro Rodríguez tells us that his main exports of frozen blueberries go to the US, South Korea, Australia and Europe, following the general trend.
"There are some factors that could also affect our exports of frozen blueberries, but in one way or another they do not. The first one is the Lobesia botrana, which, in spite of existing, only affects the fresh ones, the frozen ones do not have any problem".
"On the other hand, the current situation in Greece and its economic crisis, which in both cases -fresh and frozen- does not affect us".
"The main market for fresh is England and for frozen are Holland, Germany and England"He concludes.
Source: Fruit Portal
Previous article
Perspectives of the blueberry industry worldwideARTÍCULOS RELACIONADOS
