The product on the shelf in Brescia (Italy) is currently available in limited quantities, a sign of supply shortages for all products: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and red currants. Prices are quite high, starting from 3 euros per basket for each product.
The origins of the blueberries are mostly Portugal and Poland, but there is also some product from Peru and South Africa.
The quality standards are decent, but they decline in older production batches. These batches are easy to find given the high prices. The shelf space allocated is extremely limited.
This is what emerges from the surveys of the Berries Observatory, which on October 1, 2024, focused on the urban area of Brescia. Specifically, the Berries Observatory in Brescia visited 19 points of sale from 19 retailers belonging to 16 groups of the Large-Scale Retail Distribution (GDO): Aldi, Carrefour Market, Conad, Conad Superstore, Coop, Dpiù, Esselunga, Eurospin, Famila Superstore, In's, Ipercoop, Italmark, Lidl, MD, Migross, Penny, Prix, Rossetto, Sigma.
Assortment: 3.3 products per point of sale
In the berries category, the visited points of sale had a minimum of one and a maximum of six products, with an average of 3.3 products per point of sale.
11% of the stores carry kiwiberry; 84% raspberries; 100% blueberries; 42% carry blackberries; 58% red currants, and 21% carry Tris.
Range of products
16% of the stores with berries in their assortment had only one product for sale. 31% had two or three products, while the remaining 53% of points of sale had four or more products.
Quality
Quality refers to the health of the product, measured in terms of: absence of significant defects; a product that is healthy but in less than ideal conditions (not fresh, wilted, shriveled, dull, without bloom); presence of damaged fruits and juice; presence of spoiled fruits and mold.
The groups with the best quality were Aldi, Lidl, Migross, Prix.
Selling prices
Raspberries (24 surveys): min. 19.92 euros/kg – max. 31.92 euros/kg – average 24.10 euros/kg
Blueberries (26 surveys): min. 13.27 euros/kg – max. 31.92 euros/kg – average 24.87 euros/kg
Blackberries (11 surveys): min. 23.04 euros/kg – max. 31.92 euros/kg – average 26.28 euros/kg
Red currants (13 surveys): min. 15.84 euros/kg – max. 23.92 euros/kg – average 20.43 euros/kg
Tris (4 surveys): min. 25.20 euros/kg – max. 33.27 euros/kg – average 28.72 euros/kg
Total (78 surveys): min. 13.27 euros/kg – max. 33.27 euros/kg – average 24.29 euros/kg.
| Retailer | Two-pack | Kiwiberry | Raspberries | Blueberries | Mix | Blackberries | Red currants | Three-pack | Total |
| Sigma | 30,32 | 30,32 | |||||||
| Prix | 27,92 | 27,92 | |||||||
| Ipercoop | 23,92 | 31,92 | 31,92 | 23,92 | 27,92 | ||||
| Italmark | 15,92 | 31,92 | 23,92 | 31,92 | 23,92 | 33,27 | 26,81 | ||
| Carrefour Market | 29,90 | 25,44 | 26,80 | 23,04 | 22,24 | 29,87 | 26,21 | ||
| Coop | 18,32 | 27,92 | 31,92 | 26,05 | |||||
| MD | 23,92 | 27,92 | 25,92 | ||||||
| Penny | 23,92 | 27,92 | 27,92 | 19,92 | 24,92 | ||||
| Dpiù | 23,60 | 26,00 | 24,80 | ||||||
| In's | 20,72 | 27,92 | 24,32 | ||||||
| Famila Superstore | 23,84 | 26,24 | 22,24 | 24,11 | |||||
| Conad Superstore | 23,60 | 23,84 | 23,84 | 24,95 | 23,84 | 23,84 | 23,99 | ||
| Conad | 23,84 | 23,84 | |||||||
| Esselunga | 25,17 | 25,84 | 15,84 | 25,20 | 23,01 | ||||
| Migross | 23,92 | 23,92 | 23,92 | 19,92 | 22,92 | ||||
| Eurospin | 19,92 | 23,92 | 23,92 | 23,92 | 22,92 | ||||
| Rossetto | 22,24 | 18,55 | 23,84 | 15,84 | 26,53 | 21,40 | |||
| Lidl | 22,32 | 16,69 | 15,92 | 18,31 | |||||
| Aldi | 17,59 | 17,59 |
Brands
The visited points of sale featured berries from a total of 26 brands. The brand with the highest average prices in the category was Orsero. The brand with the lowest average prices for blueberries was Camposol, followed by Aldi.
Packaging
85% of the blueberry products surveyed were sold in packages with a net weight of 125 grams.
