Jilin Agricultural University published the ‘2020 Chinese Blueberry Industry Report’ on the 5th of February. The report is based on data from Chinese blueberry production areas and provides comprehensive analysis of the overall surface area devoted to Chinese blueberry plantation, cultivation technology, production volume, and prices. The report also highlighted new development trends in the Chinese blueberry industry.
Source: Asian Fruit Preservation Technology Association
After 20 years of commercialization, developments speed up
According to the report, Chinese blueberries were first cultivated in 200. At the end of 2020, the overall surface area devoted to Chinese blueberry plantation already exceeded 66,400hm². The annual production volume of blueberry products is around 347,200 tons. The production volume of the ‘fresh blueberry’ is around 234,700 tons.
There are seven provinces with more than 4,000hm² devoted to blueberry plantation: Guizhou (15,000hm²), Liaoning (7,800hm²), Shandong (7,333hm²), Sichuan (6,667hm²), Anhui (6,667hm²), Yunnan (5,000hm²), and Jilin (4,000hm²). And there are nine provinces with a production volume larger than 10,000 tons: Guizhou (85,000 tons), Sichuan (50,000 tons), Anhui (40,000 tons), Liaoning (35,000 tons), Shandong (33,000 tons), Yunnan (30,000 tons), Jilin (15,000 tons), Hubei (11,000 tons), and Jiangsu (10,000 tons).
Every production area cultivates and produces their own blueberry varieties, and there are huge differences between them. Guizhou mainly produces rabbit eye blueberries, and only about 30% consists of ‘fresh blueberry’. Sichuan and Anhui have rapidly developed the plantation of their standardized ‘blue beauty no. 1’ in the last few years. Their production volume of ‘fresh blueberry’ is around 60%. In Shandong, Liaoning, and Yunnan almost the entire production volume consists of ‘fresh blueberry’.
As the system of product varieties improves, differences between north and south China grow larger
The diversity of blueberry varieties is larger in south China, but optimization is more efficient in the north. The development of southern varieties has been more active in the last ten years, while the development of northern varieties lags behind. Southern production areas cultivate southern varieties, northern varieties, and rabbit eye blueberries.
The southern varieties include O’Neal, Misty, Legacy, Beryl, Pearl, Star, Blue Rain, Blue Beauty no. 1, Empress of Heaven, Brightwell, and foreign varieties such as the L- and OZ series.
Rabbit eye blueberries include Brilliance, Fertile Farming, Summit, Titan, Baldwin, Garden Blue, and Powder Blue.
Northern varieties take advantage of production areas located at significant heights above sea level. These varieties include Blue Gold, Blue Crop, and Northland.
The northern varieties have been optimized over the last ten years. Their ripening process is stable. Production areas in the Liaodong peninsula produce the following blueberry varieties: Duke, Northland, Blue Crop, Legacy, and Liberty. In addition to open field blueberry plantation, production areas in the north also cultivate blueberries in greenhouses. These greenhouse blueberries include the following varieties: Duke, Blue Crop, Legacy, O’Neal, Beryl, Misty, and H5.