While the fresh blueberry industry is well established in both Chile and Peru, the frozen blueberry segment has gained prominence in recent years, becoming both a strategic commercial alternative and a vital complement to the fresh fruit business.
This is a reality that Mario Garcés knows well. For 30 years, he served as production manager at Comfrut, one of Chile’s leading frozen fruit companies. Today, he continues as an advisor to the company and is also the founder of Frozt, a business focused on frozen products, with berries among its main categories.
“It represents a transformation of the business model,” explains Garcés. Many growers with older varieties that are not particularly well suited for the fresh export market — due to limited postharvest performance, medium fruit size, reduced bloom, among other factors — can redirect that fruit to the frozen segment while achieving excellent quality and yields. Instead of removing those orchards and replacing them with another crop or with newer-generation blueberry varieties, growers can manage them entirely for industrial purposes, adapting pruning, fertilization, and irrigation practices while enhancing harvest efficiency through specialized machinery.
“In this way, what might once have become an unviable business due to a lack of alternatives now offers growers an option that, when properly managed, can be as profitable as — or even more profitable than — fresh fruit production. We have seen the price evolution experienced by frozen blueberries in recent years, as well as the sustained growth in demand. It has become an opportunity for growers to remain in the business without having to switch to another crop. In fact, in an environment where there is considerable uncertainty about what to plant, blueberries are emerging as a viable, profitable, and scalable alternative for large production areas and commercial growers.”
Along the same lines, Juan José Valdés, general manager of SANCO, a company specializing in frozen fruit, argues that frozen blueberries have been steadily gaining importance: “There is growing demand for high-quality frozen products, particularly in markets where consumers seek year-round availability and healthy food options.”
For Valdés, the turning point in Chile was clear: “The arrival and exponential growth of Peru in the fresh market generated very strong competitive pressure on the Chilean industry, leading many growers to view frozen blueberries — also known as IQF (individually quick frozen) — not as a secondary alternative, but as a real, profitable, and more stable option. Today, the frozen segment makes it possible to utilize high-quality fruit and turn it into a more attractive alternative for producers seeking greater stability and lower exposure to the commercial and logistical risks associated with the fresh market.”
Valdés also highlights Sanco Berries, SANCO’s integrated farming project located in the northern Chilean Patagonia region, in Purranque. “We have developed blueberry and raspberry production specifically aimed at the IQF segment. The project was designed for mechanical harvesting, which provides advantages in terms of efficiency, handling large volumes, and product safety.”
“In recent years, with varietal replacement and growing external competition, particularly from Peru and Mexico, many varieties — especially traditional ones — have been pushed out of the fresh market and have taken on a leading role in the frozen segment,” explains Garcés. He adds that Chile currently exports around 90,000 tons of fresh blueberries and 60,000 tons of frozen blueberries. In other words, between 40% and 45% of Chile’s blueberry production is now exported as frozen fruit. This is because orchards that were once dedicated entirely to fresh exports are now fully focused on frozen production, harvested mechanically and operating with very low costs, allowing Chile to compete with its main rival: the United States.”
Peru: new varieties drive more fruit into the fresh market
The situation in Peru is different. Unlike Chile, the vast majority of blueberry farms are geared toward fresh exports, supported by significant varietal renewal and a longer production season.
Pablo Alarco, commercial director of Grupo Frutical — an exporter of both fresh and frozen fruit — explains the dynamics of the sector. “The new varieties available in Peru are more productive on a per-plant basis and deliver better yields. While volumes are growing exponentially, that growth is not directly proportional to the amount of fruit available for freezing.”
The executive also highlights an emerging phenomenon: the rapid growth of domestic blueberry consumption in Peru. “The local market has grown tremendously. Not only can you find blueberries year-round, but they are now available across multiple retail channels. This market has absorbed part of the raw material that previously went to the frozen segment, because many growers sell their off-grade fruit — good and bad mixed together — through supermarkets, small retailers, or even export it directly.”
Although the participation of large producers exporting their own frozen blueberries has increased competition within the category, Alarco believes the market still holds significant growth potential. In this regard, he highlights the strong momentum that frozen fruits and vegetables are showing in supermarkets worldwide, a trend he attributes to consumers’ search for more convenient, efficient, and affordable alternatives.
“That is why we see very positive prospects for the future and continue to invest in the frozen segment,” he says. “Production volumes continue to grow and will keep doing so in the coming years, which will result in greater availability of raw material to meet a demand that is also expanding.”
The United States drives global demand
The United States continues to be the main market for frozen blueberries from Chile and Peru. According to Garcés, together with Australia it accounts for nearly 90% of Chilean exports. Even so, destinations such as Europe, Japan, South Korea, and China have increased their share in recent years, consolidating their position as increasingly important alternatives for the Chilean industry.
Garcés explains that frozen blueberry production is concentrated primarily in the United States, Canada, and China in the Northern Hemisphere, while Chile leads the counter-season supply in the Southern Hemisphere. Although this market is less seasonal due to the product’s ability to be stored for long periods, he notes that Chilean availability becomes particularly important when major Northern Hemisphere producers face production issues or reduced supply, situations in which buyers often turn to Chile for sourcing.
Valdés shares this view and highlights that, alongside traditional markets such as the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, opportunities are also beginning to emerge in the Middle East and Latin America, driven by growing consumer preference for healthy and convenient foods. “In Europe, demand is well established for both retail and industrial applications. In the United States, berry consumption continues to grow year after year. And in Asia, we see a very attractive opportunity, especially in markets where demand for healthy, ready-to-eat foods is expanding.”
For Alarco, Peru’s opportunity lies in developing higher-value markets. “We export to Poland, Belgium, Spain, Europe in general, the United States, and Australia. But the opportunity for Peru lies in markets such as South Korea, Japan, China, and Asia more broadly. The challenge is that phytosanitary protocols are still needed to access several of these markets.”
Fresh and IQF: two distinct business models
Although both segments originate from the same crop, their production strategies differ significantly. In the fresh market, priority is placed on visual appearance, fruit size, firmness, and the ability to withstand long journeys to destination markets. The IQF industry, by contrast, prioritizes attributes such as flavor, internal color, organoleptic quality, and processing performance.
According to Garcés, frozen production requires a different pruning strategy, adapted for mechanical harvesting. “Fertilization is similar to that used in fresh production, but pesticide management is different: frozen fruit only needs a postharvest life of a few days, whereas fresh fruit requires programs that allow blueberries to maintain quality for 20 to 30 days in order to reach destination markets. That is why pesticide programs are much more robust in the fresh segment.”
Differences in harvesting systems also create a significant cost gap between the two segments. While the frozen industry operates with mechanical harvesting, fruit destined for the fresh market relies on manual labor for picking. “Frozen blueberries can be harvested 100% mechanically, with harvesting costs that do not exceed US$0.30 per kilogram and total costs — including seasonal operating costs — below US$0.80 per kilogram. Fresh blueberries, on the other hand, are harvested entirely by hand, with harvesting costs of around US$0.80 per kilogram and total costs approaching US$2.00 per kilogram,” explains Garcés.
From a commercial perspective, the frozen segment offers growers greater predictability, whereas the fresh business is more exposed to market fluctuations. “In the frozen industry, growers harvest the fruit into bins supplied by the processor. The fruit is received, quality checks are carried out, and payment is made — weekly, biweekly, or monthly — based on the kilos delivered. It is a single and final payment.
In the fresh market, by contrast, the fruit is packed and exported, and while growers know the market price at the time of packing, they do not know the final selling price 30 or 45 days later, with payment typically arriving after 60 or 90 days. In frozen, the price is determined before harvest,” says Garcés.
The differences are also reflected in the quality parameters prioritized by each industry. “The fresh market focuses on cosmetic appearance, fruit size, bloom, firmness for long-distance shipping, and postharvest life. The frozen segment, by contrast, focuses on internal attributes: flavor, internal color, organoleptic quality, and performance during industrial processing. The time elapsed between harvest and processing is critical to preserving optimum quality,” explains Valdés.
In addition, the industrial process incorporates several stages of selection — including optical sorting, foreign material removal, sizing, and individual quick freezing (IQF) — which set it apart entirely from the fresh business. “For frozen production, the objective is to work with high-quality fruit that delivers higher yields per hectare, performs well in the IQF process, and allows the end consumer to perceive no difference compared to fresh fruit,” says SANCO’s general manager.
In Peru, the frozen industry is supplied mainly with fruit coming from field rejects and packinghouse rejects. Alarco notes that the latter generally offers better conditions, as the fruit has already gone through preliminary sorting processes. However, he warns that the lack of uniform handling of this material can create additional challenges for processing plants.
“Field rejects, on the other hand, include fruit with uneven coloration and other issues that also complicate the freezing process. The risk with packinghouse rejects is that, because companies treat it as discarded fruit, there is no standardized handling: good fruit gets mixed with poor-quality fruit. By the time it reaches the freezing plant, a very thorough sorting process is required to remove foreign materials such as plastic contamination,” he explains.
The challenges of a growing industry
The main challenges facing the sector vary from country to country, but they share common denominators: regulatory compliance, production efficiency, and coordination between the field and the processing industry.
In Chile, Garcés identifies three critical fronts. The first is compliance with pesticide regulations: “There have been significant detections in recent years. It is essential that the industry applies only those pesticides authorized by destination markets. Applications are often made with the United States in mind, but Australia accounts for nearly 40% of Chile’s frozen blueberry exports and has a different regulatory framework.”
The second challenge relates to agronomic management, with the goal of exceeding 15 tons per hectare through targeted pruning, fertilization, and irrigation strategies, combined with efficient mechanical harvesting. The third involves stronger coordination between the fresh and frozen industries, allowing the latter to absorb larger fruit volumes when returns from the fresh market decline or when growers decide to divert the final third of their harvest to the frozen segment.
Valdés adds that rising production costs, global competition, and increasingly demanding international markets are forcing the industry to strengthen its quality, food safety, and traceability systems.
He also highlights the importance of efficient coordination between production and processing in order to preserve optimum fruit quality. “Frozen production requires highly efficient coordination between the field and the processing plant — in harvesting, fruit temperature management, transport times, and processing capacity — because everything impacts the final result. In addition, standards for food safety, traceability, and foreign material control are becoming increasingly demanding. International customers have very high expectations, which makes investment in technology, processes, and training essential.”
For Alarco, the challenges facing the Peruvian industry are closely linked to the varietal renewal currently underway across the sector. The new varieties offer higher yields and larger fruit sizes, helping to reduce harvesting costs. However, this shift also raises questions about the suitability of the raw material for the frozen industry and the preferences of end consumers.
“The new varieties being adopted are more productive and produce larger fruit, which lowers harvesting costs. But this also means that the raw material available for freezing will consist of larger sizes — 14, 18, and 24 mm. The question is whether this is what frozen berry buyers actually want, or whether they prefer a 10 mm berry for applications such as yogurt, for example. With the older varieties, that was possible; with the new ones, not necessarily.”
At the same time, the executive warns that increasing pressure on costs will force the entire supply chain to improve efficiency levels. In this context, he believes the industry will need to move toward higher value-added products and reduce its dependence on bulk shipments destined for repacking in destination markets.
“The market will gradually favor those who are most efficient in cost management. We, as frozen processors, will need to become more efficient, because harvesting costs represent a very significant share of the total raw material cost. On the other hand, the industry will need to move toward exports with greater added value, reducing its dependence on bulk shipments — 10 kg cartons — that are repacked at destination. Improving the supply chain and reaching the market with differentiated products will be key to sustaining profitability,” he concludes.
Future outlook: more volume, greater specialization, and growing competition
Experts agree that the frozen blueberry industry will continue to expand over the coming years. Growing global consumption of healthy foods, the development of new varieties, and the need to create commercial alternatives for growers are driving the sector’s transformation.
Mario Garcés believes the outlook for the business remains favorable, particularly in a scenario where demand continues to grow faster than supply, allowing for an attractive market outlook for Chile. “Demand for frozen blueberries continues to increase. It is the second most important berry worldwide after strawberries and is also a key component in berry mixes. The business will continue to be attractive for Chile, supporting favorable price projections over the coming years. While the prices recorded during the last two seasons have been exceptional, this does not guarantee that such levels can be sustained over the long term.”
Garcés adds that transitioning to frozen production can be an attractive alternative for growers with highly productive orchards. “Our recommendation is that growers consider shifting to frozen production when they have orchards capable of producing more than 10 tons per hectare. Below that threshold, production costs become too high and profitability declines considerably.”
Juan José Valdés also foresees a promising future for the IQF segment, driven by genetic innovation and increasing industry specialization. In his view, new varieties will not only benefit the fresh market, but will also bring improvements in flavor, processing performance, and firmness after freezing.
“We will see a more specialized industry, with growers developing varieties and agronomic practices specifically aimed at maximizing quality, efficiency, and performance for the IQF segment.”
According to Valdés, this trend is already beginning to emerge in Chile, where producers traditionally focused on the fresh market are incorporating frozen production into their long-term commercial strategies. In this context, integration between agricultural production, industrial technology, food safety, and commercial management will become increasingly important in building competitive advantages.
For his part, Pablo Alarco anticipates a scenario marked by growing competition, driven by the interest of large producers in processing and marketing their own frozen fruit directly. “I see growing interest among large producers in using their own raw material and marketing their frozen products directly. This creates more competition and, naturally, price adjustments. As in most industries, the companies that remain will be those that achieve greater efficiency in both their processes and cost management.”
Alarco believes that, in this environment, the ability to add value and differentiate products will become increasingly important to sustaining profitability. “It will become increasingly important to move toward higher value-added products rather than limiting ourselves exclusively to bulk fruit exports. There is a significant opportunity there to improve the profitability of the business.”
