Sunny Valley International's Strength in Blueberry Programs Is Its Diversity

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Sunny Valley International’s strength in blueberry programs is its diversity

September 11, 2014

“It’s a strength that we have in that we can convert to different pack styles and/or repack blueberries,” said Bob Von Rohr, director of customer relations for Sunny Valley International, headquartered in Glassboro, NJ. “When we ship blueberries from New Jersey, we’re able to offer good delivery with high-quality berries and in a wide diversity of packaging.”

Sunny Valley’s primary blueberry import programs are from Argentina and Chile, but this season it will also have some blues from Peru.

“Timing on our Argentina and Chilean deal is a little earlier than last year,” he said. “We will have fruit from the start of mid-September through the end of the import season in early April, with availability week-in and week-out.

“We are anticipating that our blueberry volumes from Argentina and Chile will be between 25 to 30 percent higher than last year,” he continued. “I feel that we absolutely do have a market for the increase because most of the time the demand for blueberries exceeds the supply.”

The company’s main blueberry source will be from Chile, which will run throughout the entire import season.

Argentina blueberries start in mid-September and run through early December.

“We’ll also have a few Peruvian blueberries in October and November this season,” Von Rohr

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He noted that the company expects a normal supply of Chilean and Argentina berries to arrive by air in Miami from the start of the season. Air shipments run until early to mid-December, which is when the berries begin to arrive via ocean vessels into the ports of Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Port Everglades, FL.

“Transitions from air to vessel containers will happen when volumes hit really strong in late December,” explained Von Rohr. “Heavy volumes will continue through mid-March. Containers take about two-and-a-half weeks to arrive in the United States. Peak production is containerized and runs from early January through mid-March.”

The primary labels that Sunny Valley International uses on its imported blueberries are “Easter Island,” “Santa Cruz,” “X-Fru,” “Copefruit,” “Cato,” “Del Curto” and “Agricamex.”

Von Rohr said that pack sizes from Chile will be 4.4-ounce clamshells by air shipment, followed by six-ounce clamshells, pints and 18-ounce clamshells in vessel container shipments.

“We have the capability to re-style blueberries into special packs with a 24- to 48-hour advanced notification at the Eastern Propak facility in Glassboro, New Jersey,” he pointed out. “Our ability to convert to different pack styles or repack blueberries is a major strength for Sunny Valley. When we ship blueberries from New Jersey, we’re able to offer good delivery with high-quality berries and in a wide diversity of packaging.”

Sunny Valley’s primary Chilean grower groups are those that run a little later in the season. Von Rohr explained that there is some production in northern Chile that comes on earlier, but the company’s peak production is from the Osorno area. Osorno is a city and commune in southern Chile and capital of Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region.

“This region of Chile has shown to be well adapted to produce high-quality blueberries,” he said.

Sunny Valley’s organic Chilean blueberry program has grown significantly over the years. Its organic season starts via air freight in early November and runs to mid-January, he said.

“We then transition to containers, as we do with conventional blueberries, which extends through the end of the season in March,” said Von Rohr. “Organic pack sizes are 4.4-ounce, six-ounce and pints. One of our primary organic labels from Chile is ‘Cato,’ which is a premium certified organic grower.”