Few brands, very strong and well alternated. Regarding blueberries, the presence of larger formats confirms the greater product availability: 500-gram packs are very common, with prices even below 10 euros/kg.
For blackberries and raspberries, on the other hand, prices are stable but tending upward. The quality of Mexican blackberries is clearly improving, while raspberries come mainly from Morocco with good quality.
As for store shelves, they are generally well stocked: product availability is good.
These are some of the findings from the surveys conducted by the Small Fruit Observatory, which yesterday, 11 November, carried out a round of visits in the urban area of Bologna.
Under the Two Towers and surrounding areas, 20 stores from 20 different banners belonging to 12 retail groups were visited. Assortments were recorded for the following store banners: Aldi, Alì, Carrefour, Carrefour Express, Carrefour Market, Conad City, Conad Superstore, Coop, Despar, Dpiù, Esselunga, Eurospar, Eurospin, IN's, inCoop, Ipercoop, Lidl, Pam, Pam Local, Sigma.
Assortment and range width
The stores visited offered from a minimum of one to a maximum of eight SKUs, with an average of 4.1 SKUs per store. Specifically: 75% raspberries; 100% blueberries; 60% blackberries; 35% redcurrants; 30% mixed berry packs.
Regarding the width of the range, 15% of stores offer only one SKU; 35% offer 2 or 3 SKUs; and the remaining 50% offer 4 or more SKUs.
Quality
Quality refers to the product condition, measured in terms of: absence of relevant defects; sound product but not in ideal condition (not fresh, tired, shriveled, dull, lacking bloom); presence of damaged berries and juice; presence of spoiled berries and mold.
The groups with the best quality were Aldi, Alì Supermercati, Coop, Esselunga, Eurospin, Gruppo Pam, Lidl, Sigma.
Retail prices
Raspberries (23 observations): min. 15.60 euros/kg - max. 31.92 euros/kg - average 21.86 euros/kg
Blueberries (47 observations): min. 9.98 euros/kg - max. 31.92 euros/kg - average 18.00 euros/kg
Blackberries (18 observations): min. 19.92 euros/kg - max. 26.00 euros/kg - average 24.09 euros/kg
Redcurrants (8 observations): min. 10.32 euros/kg - max. 25.20 euros/kg - average 16.74 euros/kg
Mixed packs (7 observations): min. 17.38 euros/kg - max. 26.53 euros/kg - average 23.43 euros/kg
Total overall (103 observations): min. 9.98 euros/kg - max. 31.92 euros/kg - average 20.19 euros/kg.
Brands
A total of 23 berry brands were present in the stores visited. The brand with the consistently highest average prices was Almaverde Bio. The brand with the lowest average prices for blueberries was Camposol, followed by Widmann.
Packaging
43% of the blueberry SKUs surveyed are sold in 125-gram packs.
