With the opening of the Vietnamese market to fresh U.S. blueberries in February, growers scored one big success in international market development this year. At least one more could be coming, according to a report from Matt Lantz of the Seattle-based consulting firm Bryant Christie.

Matt Lantz speaks at the Oregon Blueberry Conference.

In a presentation at the 2019 Oregon Blueberry Conference, Lantz outlined several recent occurrences in efforts to develop more international market access, including the potential for a new market in the Philippines.

“It is my hope that the Philippines will open this year and you will have access to a new market,” he said.

Lantz characterized the Philippines, a market of 105 million people, as a promising market, with some limitations. “They love U.S. products and have good cold storage, but their infrastructure is not great,” he said.

Efforts to open markets for fresh U.S. blueberries in Australia and New Zealand are ongoing, but he was less optimistic that those will open in the near future.

“Australia is particularly concerned about the spotted wing drosophila and is asking to see fumigation information,” he said. “I hope for progress in 2019, but I think we are going to have better luck in the Philippines.”

He described China as “the holy grail of new market access.”

“They have 1.4 billion people, a growing middle class. They are very interested in healthy food, and Oregon is well positioned if we can get this market open,” he said.

Trying to open the market has been difficult, however, he said, and hopes for doing so could hinge on developments in high-level trade negotiations. Although blueberries were not expected to be discussed in the tariff negotiations, Lantz was hopeful technical issues could be addressed in the near future so blueberries would be included on a list of concessions China grants the U.S. if the broader issues are resolved.

“It is going to be feast or famine. We are either going to get it soon or we aren’t for a while,” he said.

He added that China is cracking down on the gray market, so access through Hong Kong has been limited of late.

As for Vietnam, which opened its border to fresh U.S. blueberries on February 15, Lantz described it as a country with huge market potential for U.S. blueberries, noting that the Vietnamese love U.S. food products.

Opening new markets will be critical if U.S. growers and packers hope to increase an export market that totaled $200 million in sales in 2017, a small percentage of total U.S. blueberry sales. Fresh exports made up a little less than half of the total.

To date, Canada is by far the largest export market for U.S. blueberries, accounting for close to half of frozen exports and 85 percent of fresh blueberry exports.

“That makes a lot of sense,” Lantz said. “It is a good market. It is close. But that is also putting a lot of eggs in one basket. If there is a downturn in Canada, it could have a pretty significant effect. So, there is interest in providing additional opportunities around the world.”