Historically, the next ten days for fruit retailing are extremely slow before the ramp-up to Xmas and in conjunction with additional volume in all Berries categories and others such as stone fruit (which was up 89% last week vs the same week in 2022), highlights there will be additional pressure to ensure that our fruit ends up in shoppers’ trolley. We also know that consumers are looking for value, so we expect a lot of switching between categories whilst shoppers are looking to stretch their dollars further.
Blueberries – The Rabbiteye season has finally kicked off, with considerable volumes starting to come in across the board. As such, retailers will likely look at reducing purchase orders at the back end of the week in preparation for next week. This volume is approximately three weeks earlier than last year. Volume for premium has remained consistent from WA and VIC over the last two weeks, and we expect this to continue for the next few weeks. We are not looking to reduce the price on Eureka next week but will be monitoring this closely against demand.
Strawberries – are starting the week very similar to last week, we expect production to kick in again in Victoria after a bad run of weather. So, whilst we are starting the week with prices higher for Strawberries, this might drastically change by the weekend, and we could see retail prices in 1-2 states back at $2.50. Strawberry production is expected to increase from Tasmania at the back end of the week, so it is very much expected that we will be at a retail of $2.50 in VIC and NSW as a minimum.
Raspberries – With the peak of Northern NSW / SEQ production past, we are expecting a flat volume line on Raspberries vs last week. We may even see a slight dip before the production out of VIC/TAS kicks off in the coming weeks. Whilst there were some indications that we may have one state go lower than the current prices, this is no longer a concern, highlighting the supply has started to pull back.
Blackberries – Similar to Raspberries, volume is moving sideways, and we expect that volume will hold in the current week.
