Easter Weekend should bring good demand for berries.

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 Blueberries- Volume again dropped slightly this week, but demand remains stable even at the elevated price. We have seen price increases for the coming week and will be watching how this affects demand over the back end of the week. We are not expecting much in regard to Australian production with Victoria in the last rounds of Rabbiteye, and NZ is also slowing down. This is likely due to their domestic market absorbing much of their production. 

Strawberries- Volume into retail has dropped slightly week on week. Most, if not all, inground second-year plants have been removed. Temperatures in Victoria are much better for strawberry production, with some warmer weather expected over the weekend and cooler nights. Stanthorpe is seeing much better temperatures and harvesting conditions all week, and there are some great growing conditions that continue in southwest WA with warmer days but cool nights and minimum temps in the low teens. Volumes will continue to be tight for the next three months as we transition after Easter to Northern Production (Southeast QLD). 

Raspberries- Volumes in VIC and Northern NSW continue to increase, and most growers are now into their harvest (albeit in small volumes) from the Coffs Coast region, and the volume is close to offsetting the drop in volume from Tasmania. Quality continues to be good across the board. The majority of growers in the Coffs Coast region have started production, with less than 10% yet to come online. 

Blackberries- There was only a slight volume drop week on week, and whilst we are expecting volumes to jump, we are not expecting it to be as high as we previously thought it may be. Quality across the board for Blackberries continues to be reasonably good. 

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