In the Piacenza large-scale retail (GDO), there are numerous promotions on blackberries and blueberries with declining prices, while raspberries remain at medium-high price levels and red currants are very expensive, mainly imported from Chile and overseas origins.
The origins of blueberries are Spain, Morocco and Italy, while blackberries mainly come from Morocco, with the last batches arriving from Mexico at the end of the season.
Shelf availability is very limited, with many mixed brands on display. Overall quality is good, as are the batches, which are mostly from the current week.
These are the main findings of the survey carried out today, April 29, 2026, in the urban area of Piacenza (Italy), covering 16 stores across 16 retail chains belonging to 13 large-scale retail groups.
The assortments of the following retail chains were surveyed: Aldi, Basko, Conad Superstore, Coop, Dpiù, Esselunga, Eurospin, Galassia, Gulliver, Il Gigante, In's, Ipercoop, Italmark, Lidl, MD, Penny.
Assortment
Within the berry category, the stores visited offered between a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 7 SKUs, with an average of 4.3 SKUs per store.
Among the 15 stores where berries were available: 93% carried raspberries, 100% blueberries, 67% blackberries, 27% red currants, and 40% mixed packs (Tris).
Range breadth
33% of the stores carrying berries had two or three SKUs available, while the remaining 67% offered four or more SKUs.
Quality
Quality refers to the product condition, assessed in terms of: absence of significant defects; sound product but in non-ideal condition (not fresh, tired, shriveled, dull, lacking bloom); presence of damaged fruit and juice leakage; presence of spoiled fruit and mold.
The groups with the best quality were Aldi, Coop, Esselunga, Gruppo Pam, Italmark and MD.
Selling prices
Raspberries (16 observations): min. €15.92/kg, max. €31.92/kg, average €22.58/kg
Blueberries (35 observations): min. €6.98/kg, max. €24.90/kg, average €17.39/kg
Blackberries (10 observations): min. €15.84/kg, max. €23.92/kg, average €20.54/kg
Red currants (4 observations): min. €23.84/kg, max. €31.84/kg, average €29.24/kg
Mixed packs (6 observations): min. €23.27/kg, max. €26.60/kg, average €25.79/kg
Overall total (71 observations): min. €6.98/kg, max. €31.92/kg, average €20.38/kg.
Brands
The stores visited carried berries from a total of 23 brands.
The brand with the highest average prices in the category was Sant'Orsola. The brand with the lowest average prices for blueberries was Cuna De Platero, followed by Widmann.
Packaging
29% of the blueberry SKUs surveyed were sold in packs with a net weight of 125 grams.
