Articles
MARKETING AND PACKAGING OF HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRIES IN THE FEDERAL REBUBLIC OF GERMANY
The fruit kinds well-known for being available preseasonally, such as oranges, apples, and grapes, are now available year round.
Berries, however, only appear on the market at certain times of year.
They, unlike the previously mentioned fruits, were not effected by occasional price declines.
This is especially true of the marketed highbush blueberry in West Germany, due to high harvesting costs and the small amount available.
Through concentration of marketing, we were successful in raising the price from the former 1.80 DM – 2.00 DM per kilogram to 5, — DM – 6. — DM per kilogram gross for net for this fruit kind.
Since the amount of 250 t/year from a cultivated area of approximately 150 hectars produced such a small supply on the market, the citizens of the upper class in Germany bought the berries for a retail price of 8 DM to 10 DM. In the last few years, the Dutch, and even the North American exporters, who had to cope with expensive air freight, were able to profit immensely from this high price increase.
As nice as it may seem for a marketer to raise a product of such price levels to higher and higher prices, this arises doubt in view of the future.
It is certainly to be expected that the high prices for domestically produced highbush blueberries in Germany will attract more and more competitors to the market.
This increased supply will reduce the market price and make marketing more difficult; first of all because the small quantities produced up until now were appealing only to very few wealthy consumers, and secondly because bulk sales at such high price by such large supplies will no longer be possible.
In the last few years, suppliers in West Germany, working in the