Rephrase the same Lower Temperatures Delay Morocco’s Blueberry Harvest, But Bring Market Advantage in a different way no more than 118 characters, as if you were a native American speaker as expert on content creation and dont talk about yourself or your experience

With lower temperatures delaying the beginning of Morocco’s blueberry season, the peak harvest has been pushed back to April and May. But the delay has unexpectedly created a business advantage, Amine Bennani, President of the Moroccan Association of Soft Fruit Producers, told Fresh Plaza recently.

“We had unsuitable temperatures for blueberries in the north of the country in November and December, coinciding with the flowering of the fruit. This delayed fruit growth, and growers harvested only 17-20% of last season’s volumes as of the end of February,” said Bennani. In the Agadir region, however, growing conditions were “good and harvests have been normal, so far around 70% of the entires season’s volumes,” he said.

Productivity in Larache has increased and will continue to rise until the peak harvest in April. However, growers face a major challenge: a shortage of labor.

The peak blueberry production coincides with the second cycle of raspberries and strawberries for freezing, which will likely lead to fruit losses due to a lack of workers.

From a commercial perspective, however, the delayed season has worked to Morocco’s advantage. Weather fluctuations worldwide also affected Spain and Latin America, leading to late surges in production, and Moroccan blueberries did not flood the market early when prices were low. As a result, market conditions from now until May are more favorable.

“This is reassuring for Moroccan growers who have shifted toward producing jumbo varieties, which are in high demand in European and Asian markets,” Bennani said.