British blueberry growers are accelerating investment in production and post-harvest technologies to satisfy rising consumer demand and increasing appetite for larger fruit sizes and better eating quality as premiumisation reshapes the category.
Already this season, an extra sweet crop has led to a sharp growth in sales of UK-grown blueberries; rising by 73% year-on-year at week 27, and contributing to an overall annual increase of 27%, according to British Berry Growers.
Domestic production has also expanded significantly, resulting in UK blueberry output increasing by 40% during the last five years.