In Padua, regarding blueberries, quality remains stable and Peruvian origin continues to be the only one available on the market. Prices are decreasing, while there is an increase in pack sizes thanks to greater product availability.
As for blackberries, quality remains a key discriminating factor; the presence of Portuguese-origin blackberries is increasing, with superior quality, while Mexican blackberries, despite being the main origin, continue to show very poor quality.
Raspberries continue to suffer from general issues of over-ripeness and lack of firmness; prices are competitive and declining, as is quality.
For redcurrants, the supply is exclusively of Italian origin with generally good quality.
Brands are few but well positioned across all retail stores in the city, while shelf availability is significantly increasing for all product categories.
These are some of the key findings from the Small Fruit Observatory, which yesterday, November 5, 2025, made a stop in Padua, a city where 20 stores belonging to 20 banners from 14 major retail groups were visited.
The banners surveyed were: Aldi, Alì, Alìper, Conad City, Conad Superstore, Coop, Eurospar, Eurospin, Famila, iN's, Iper Spar, Iperlando, Lidl, MD, Pam, Prix, Rossetto, Spak, Spazio Conad, Super A&O.
Assortment: 4 SKUs per store
The stores visited had between one and six SKUs, with an average of four.
Among the 19 stores offering small fruits: 84% carried raspberries; 100% carried blueberries; 79% carried blackberries; 32% carried redcurrants, and 21% carried mixed berry packs.
Range breadth: four or more SKUs in 74% of stores
Here’s how the assortment is distributed: 5% of stores with small fruits offered only one SKU; 21% offered two or three; the remaining 74% offered four or more SKUs.
Quality
Quality is defined as the overall health of the product, assessed by the Observatory’s technicians based on: absence of major defects; product in acceptable but suboptimal condition (not fresh, tired, shriveled, dull, lacking bloom); presence of damaged fruit and juice; presence of spoiled fruit and mold.
The banners showing the best quality results were Alì Supermercati, Conad, Coop, F.lli Lando, Lidl, and Prix.
Retail prices
Raspberries (17 observations): average €20.75/kg (min. €14.32/kg – max. €23.92/kg)
Blueberries (44 observations): average €18.05/kg (min. €11.97/kg – max. €31.92/kg)
Blackberries (17 observations): average €23.63/kg (min. €15.92/kg – max. €27.84/kg)
Redcurrants (7 observations): average €17.02/kg (min. €10.32/kg – max. €23.92/kg)
Mixed berries (5 observations): average €21.51/kg (min. €19.93/kg – max. €23.87/kg)
Overall total (90 observations): average €19.72/kg (min. €10.32/kg – max. €31.92/kg).
Total of 24 brands
Across the surveyed stores, small fruits from a total of 24 brands were found. The brand with the highest average prices was Almaverde Bio. The brand with the lowest average blueberry prices was Widmann, followed by Camposol.
Packaging
45% of blueberry SKUs were sold in 125-gram packs.
