The two main origins of blueberries continue to be Peru and Chile, with a greater prevalence of Chilean product due to the end of the Peruvian season. The first arrivals from Morocco are now appearing, showing excellent quality, while Chilean product is somewhat lacking from a quality standpoint. The quality of blackberries remains fair, while raspberries show good quality.
As for blueberry prices, they are declining, while blackberry and raspberry prices are increasing due to the current lack of availability.
The market scenario in Florence is very limited in terms of brands: there are few, mostly well-established ones. However, since there are few retail chains, they are generally well supplied with the main brands.
This is the summary of the survey on berries in large-scale retail (GDO) in the urban area of Florence as of January 21, 2025. The study involved 14 points of sale from 14 retail banners belonging to 9 large-scale retail groups.
In particular, assortments were surveyed in the following stores: Carrefour express, Carrefour Market, Conad City, Conad Superstore, Coop, Dpiù, Esselunga, Eurospin, IN's, Ipercoop, Lidl, Pam, Pam local, Penny.
Assortment
Within the berry category, the visited stores showed a variable assortment, with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 7 SKUs. The average stands at 3.7 SKUs per store. Availability percentages by fruit are as follows: raspberries 71%; blueberries 100%; blackberries 50%; red currants 43%; mixed berry packs 21%.
Range breadth
The analysis revealed that 21% of the stores offering berries carry only one SKU. 36% offer two to three SKUs, while 43% carry four or more SKUs.
Quality
Quality refers to product soundness, assessed in terms of: absence of significant defects; sound product but not in ideal condition (not fresh, tired, wilted, dull, lacking bloom); presence of damaged fruit and juice leakage; presence of spoiled fruit and mold.
The groups with the best quality were Conad, Coop, Eurospin, Gruppo Pam, and Lidl.
Retail prices
Raspberries (12 observations): min. €19.84/kg – max. €27.84/kg – average €22.61/kg
Blueberries (27 observations): min. €9.56/kg – max. €24.00/kg – average €14.77/kg
Blackberries (7 observations): min. €23.84/kg – max. €26.24/kg – average €24.89/kg
Red currants (7 observations): min. €15.84/kg – max. €20.64/kg – average €18.25/kg
Mixed packs (3 observations): min. €23.20/kg – max. €25.20/kg – average €24.31/kg
Overall total (56 observations): min. €9.56/kg – max. €27.84/kg – average €18.66/kg.
Brands
A total of 18 brands of berries were recorded in the visited stores. The brand with the highest average prices was F.lli Orsero, while Sanlucar and Del Curto offer the most competitive prices for blueberries.
Packaging
37% of blueberry SKUs are sold in 125-gram packs.
