NW Blueberries to Viet Nam

NW Blueberries to Viet Nam

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Northwest blueberry growers don't rely heavily on foreign markets. So for them, things like tariffs and the trade wars aren't a major problem when selling their wares ...

SCHREIBER ... "Most of our blueberries grown in Washington are sold within North America and the export markets that we do have, have not been impacted by tariffs, so right now we don't have trade issues."

However, Washington Blueberry Commission president Alan Schreiber says, that doesn't mean they're not interested in selling their blueberries overseas ...

SCHREIBER ... "I will tell you, I just recently got back from Viet Nam. Viet Nam just opened up to allowing fresh blueberries to be exported to Viet Nam and right now there's a "blue stampede" of blueberries going into Viet Nam."

And, Schreiber says northwest growers stand to benefit the most from Viet Nam's sudden interest ...

SCHREIBER ... "They are very interested in it and right now the only places that are exporting to Viet Nam are Oregon and Washington and so we are shipping a lot of blueberries over to Viet Nam, right now."

So, Schreiber says it could be a very productive season for our berry growers ...

SCHREIBER ... "We think we could ship, easily, 2-million pounds our first year over to Viet Nam, between Oregon and Washington."

Northwest berry growers are working on other Asian markets as trade negotiations with China continue.

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