Blueberries: The Superfood conquers Germany by storm!

Blueberries: The Superfood conquers Germany by storm!

Deutschland - The blueberry has conquered a remarkable place in the German fruit range in recent years. According to a YouGov survey on behalf of the dpa, almost half (47%) of fruit eaters in Germany are the blueberry among their favorite fruit. It only follows the raspberry, which comes first with 53%. The popularity of this berry has led to a steady increase in the acreage. In 2024, this was around 3,500 hectares in Germany, which represents an increase of 0.9% compared to the previous year. In 2012, the acreage was only 1,840 hectares, which clearly illustrates the significant growth. ZVW reports that blueberries are now available all year round, a fact that was not yet given a few years ago.

This increase in popularity is not only due to the domestic cultivation. The import numbers for blueberries in Germany have doubled since 2018, whereby the figures have increased by a factor of 4.5 since 2015. Market analyst Claudio Gläßer emphasizes that the previous difficulties of finding blueberries in the supermarket are now a thing of the past.

growth in the global market

internationally speaking, blueberry production experiences remarkable growth. The global extension has more than doubled in the past ten years. According to fruitnet , the total area for blueberries grows by at least 10 %annually. In 2023, the global acreage was already 267,000 hectares, with Latin America dominating 42 % of the share, especially in countries such as Peru, Mexico and Chile. China has also established itself as an important player and produces about 32 % of global blueberries.

The crowd produced worldwide reached 1.78 million tons in 2023. It should be noted that international trade in fresh blueberries in volume is only around 20 % lower than that of apples, which is almost 50 times larger than blueberry production. This discrepancy shows that the potential of the international market for these fruits.

logistics and climate balance

The blueberries that are available in Germany mostly come from the American blueberry and other North American species that are bred under controlled conditions. These can be stored for 4 to 6 weeks, which significantly improves the transport routes. Another advantage is the reduced transport costs by shipping in containers from Peru by ship. Freshplaza also reports that the long transport route has negative effects on the climate balance, which nevertheless does not affect the continued blueberry.

The harvesting conditions have in important growing countries. Normalized, which increases the export, especially from Peru. In the past few months, improved tastes have been observed through favorable weather conditions in China and an increasing area in Peru. The cultivation area there increased from 2,000 hectares to 20,000 hectares in 2024 in 2016, with the variety of varieties concentrating on nine main varieties, with Ventura as a dominant variety.

Overall, it can be seen that the blueberry is not only a popular fruit in Germany, but is also becoming increasingly important in the international market. The constant availability and the versatile uses contribute to the fact that it is valued as a "superfood". With a high content of vitamin E, manganese and anthocyanes, it is considered particularly health -promoting.