Blueberries now come exclusively from Peru – the Polish season has ended – while raspberries arrive from several countries (Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and Italy) with falling prices.
Blackberries are almost all of Mexican origin, with some supply from Portugal, but prices remain very high and product quality is rather disappointing. Blueberries and raspberries, on the other hand, are confirmed as fresh and of good quality.
Shelves are well stocked, the offer lively and brands numerous: clear signals of a dynamic and functioning market. The only weak point concerns formats, still concentrated on 125 grams, a choice due to high purchase prices.
This is the summary of the Berry Observatory carried out yesterday, October 21, 2025, in the urban area of Milan (Italy), covering 18 stores of 18 banners belonging to 16 retail groups.
The product assortments were surveyed in the following banners: Aldi, Carrefour express, Carrefour Market, Conad, Esselunga, Eurospin, Il Gigante, iN's, Iper La Grande I, Iperal, Ipercoop, Lidl, MD, Pam, Penny, Prix Quality, Tigros, U2.
Assortment
In the stores visited, the berry category featured a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 7 SKUs, with an average of 4.1 SKUs per store. The assortment percentages in the stores were as follows: raspberries 83%; blueberries 100%; blackberries 67%; red currants 44%; mixes 22%.
Range breadth
6% of stores with berries in the assortment offered only one SKU, 39% had two or three SKUs, while the remaining 55% offered four or more SKUs.
Quality
Quality refers to product condition, measured in terms of: absence of major defects; sound product but not in ideal condition (not fresh, tired, shriveled, dull, without bloom); presence of damaged berries and juice; presence of rotten berries and mold.
The groups with the best quality were identified as Aldi, Conad, Esselunga, Eurospin, Finiper, Iperal, Lidl, Prix, Unes.
Retail prices
Berry prices varied:
Raspberries (24 records): average €19.95/kg (€15.84 – €28.64/kg)
Blueberries (38 records): average €17.14/kg (€9.97 – €31.92/kg)
Blackberries (15 records): average €23.83/kg (€15.92 – €30.80/kg)
Red currants (9 records): average €13.75/kg (€7.92 – €15.92/kg)
Mixes (5 records): average €22.64/kg (€14.98 – €26.53/kg)
A total of 91 records were collected with an overall average price of €18.95/kg (€7.92 – €31.92/kg).
Brands
In the stores analyzed, berries from a total of 30 brands were found.
The brand with the highest average prices in the category was Almaverde Bio. The brand with the lowest average prices for blueberries was Widmann, followed by Danper.
Packaging
55% of the blueberry SKUs were sold in 125-gram packs.
