Red Raspberries 2020 Pt 2

Red Raspberries 2020 Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The Washington Raspberry crop is in and awaiting final numbers, but the initial feeling is the fruit and volume are both top-notch.

And, Washington Red Raspberry Commission executive director, Henry Bierlink says the dark cloud of the pandemic may have a bit of a silver lining with people cooking more at home …

BIERLINK … “Right after the coronavirus, people started buying a lot of frozen fruit and so suddenly we had a nice bump, in terms of demand and that helped our prices.”

So, Bierlink says things look pretty good …

BIERLINK … “We feel fairly optimistic about the high-end market, the IQF market, Individual Quick Frozen. That’s really taken a nice bump and it’s really up in an area where it’s actually a sustainable price now rather than, you know, producing at a loss.”

And that, Bierlink says is one of the major challenges …

BIERLINK … “We’re still very concerned about our other packs like the purees, the straight packs, and certainly the juice, which is also a significant portion of our industry. Those things are still competing with some imports coming in that are at low-priced imports.”

And low-priced imports, Bierlink says is a problem for many specialty crops …

BIERLINK … “That is a big issue, a big challenge for us yet and we have a, there’s an International Trade Commission hearing coming up on September 17th looking into the effect on red raspberries.”

Listen tomorrow for more on Washington raspberries and the pricing challenges.

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