American supermarkets are facing a blueberry shortage after extreme heat in Peru — the biggest exporter of blueberries on this planet — resulted in a stingy harvest, in keeping with reports.
Peru has been crippled by the El Niño weather phenomenon, which increases global temperatures every time it purrs across the globe every two to seven years, in keeping with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
This 12 months, El Niño sparked warner and drier weather conditions across the South American country, per the NOAA, causing a blueberry drought that’s slashed supplies as much as 70%, Forbes reported.
Last week, the quantity of blueberries that reached US stores from Peru was lower than half of what it was the identical week a 12 months ago, in keeping with Forbes.
In a typical 12 months, Peru sends about one-third of its 1.3 billion kilos of its blueberry crop to American grocery stores.
With that harvest hacked all the way down to some 390 million kilos, blueberries have develop into an expensive treat.
Nearly half as many blueberries from Peru reached American stores last week in comparison with the identical week last 12 months, in keeping with Forbes, and it’s all due to a warm-weather pattern called El Niño.Getty Images
Because the starting of September, the worth of blueberries have surged as much as 60%, to almost $6 per pound, in keeping with Forbes, citing NielsenIQ data, which analyzes hundreds of receipts from US retailers.
Prior to now two months alone, a container of blueberries increased $2 per container within the face of dwindling supplies.
Some 27 million kilos less of the sweet, tangy fruit have sold in 2023 in comparison with last 12 months, Forbes reported.
“That is the primary time on this industry’s history where now we have had such a big contraction of supply, due to how big Peru has gotten, globally,” Kasey Cronquist, the president of each the US Highbush Blueberry Council and the North American Blueberry Council, told Forbes.
“They were having an countless summer in Peru, and, for blueberries, that has had a consequence,” Cronquist added.
Blueberry bushes need temperatures between 32 degrees and 45 degrees Fahrenheit to thrive, though Peru has been sweltering with El Niño-induced temperatures ranging between 59 degrees and 81 degrees Fahrenheit to this point this 12 months.
This spells bad news for the US, which has come to depend on Peru for its blueberry supply over the past decade.
In 2013, Peru sent its first over 1 million-pound batch of blueberries to the US, in keeping with Forbes.
Stingy blueberry bushel harvests have pushed the worth of the fruit higher, to around $6 per pound.AP
By 2020, Peru was America’s primary blueberry supplier, and as of 2022, the US imported upwards of 339 million kilos of Peruvian blueberries.
Cronquist said that the blueberry industry is working to breed different varieties of the fruit that will likely be more immune to heat.
By the spring, once North America’s blueberry-growing season starts and growth ramps up within the 10 major blueberry-producing states — Oregon, Washington, Georgia, Michigan, California, Latest Jersey, North Carolina, Florida, Texas and Minnesota — Cronquist told Forbes that the shortage will come to and end and costs will cool.
The Post has sought comment from the US Highbush Blueberry Council and the North American Blueberry Council.
