Cheap blueberries: Prices drop in supermarkets amid oversupply

Blueberries are selling for as low as $2.50 at supermarkets right now, and shoppers should make the most of it because the low prices won’t stick around.

Blueberries are sinisterly cheap now.

Retail prices for 125g punnets of blueberries are selling for as low as $2.50 at major supermarkets.

And prices are set to remain low until the peak of the season subsides in northern NSW, which may not be until December.

Berries Australia executive officer Rachel Mackenzie said the industry has been “heading to this point” for a number of years but frosts and poor weather has previously put a handbrake on production.

But she said shoppers should make the most of the abundance and low prices because they won’t stick around.

Farmers are just beginning to feel the pinch of a critical labour shortage given the exodus of backpackers from Australia since March this year.

Retail prices for 125g punnets of blueberries are selling for as low as $2.5 at major supermarkets. . Picture: Chris Kidd

“Lots of berries is one thing, but without pickers to remove the crop, there will be flow on effects into supermarkets,” she said.

“Up until now they’ve been able to make do (with pickers) but as the backpackers continue to head home and we’re not getting anyone to replace them, it’s starting to become a challenge. And as more commodities come online, there’s more competition for those remaining pickers.”

An ideal growing season is behind the oversupply and bargain prices, forcing growers to accept little reward for their labour.

Victorian berry group YV Fresh is gearing up for a season not unlike NSW following a similar growing season.

YV Fresh’s national sales manager Jeff Matthews said “everything is pointing to a really good crop”.

Picking will begin in January and at this early stage, he said it appeared growers had enough pickers to remove their crop.

Victoria’s raspberry harvest kicked off this week and blackberries are expected to follow next week.

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