Blueberry Mania Continues Worldwide!

Fresh, processed and further processed blueberry shipments are booming around the world.   The USHBC has revved up promotions in  selected markets around the world, and we are seeing blueberry markets across the globe join the blueberry craze.

Ten years ago, USHBC had a strategic plan goal to ship 17 million lbs of US highbush blueberries.    This was followed by fresh and processed promotions in Japan., Taiwan, and South Korea.    In just ten years, shipments to non-Canadian export markets have risen more than 270 percent.  It is not a coincidence that the markets with the largest growth are USHBC targets where we have conducted building-block activities such as trade shows, seminars, advertising PR and retail fresh and food industry initiatives.  

Some very good indicators:

• Frozen shipments to South Korea have jumped to more than 7 million lbs from less than a half million when promotions began a decade ago.
• Fresh shipments to South Korea after the market opened up have doubled in the last year with a big push from USHBC retail promotions.
• USHBC food technology activities have ignited the Japanese food industry market with more than 150 new blueberry-containing products introduced in 2014.
• Fresh promotions at retail and foodservice have driven shipments to Taiwan and Hong Kong into multi-million lbs levels that continue to climb.   Just wait until China opens the door to fresh blueberries from the USA!