The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) “isn’t leaving any stone unturned,” in an effort to open and expand export markets for fresh and frozen blueberries, according to export consultant Thomas Payne.

“There is a sense of urgency right now to get things going, what with the volume we are producing,” Payne said.

“We think we have to kick this thing up,” he said. “We want to optimize blueberry sales in these different offshore markets.”

Payne said the Council is working on opening or expanding markets in several countries including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, India and China.

Efforts in India and China, with their huge population bases and emerging middle classes, could have huge implications for West Coast exports, he said.

Website created for the Chinese market.

“We’re spending a lot of time trying to get the Chinese market open for fresh blueberries,” he said. “It has been a little difficult. But it looks promising. It is not going to be decades away, it is going to be years away.”

“India has shown promise for the West Coast,” he said. “They have an upper class that has a lot of spending power and they have an emerging middle class. And just like in Korea, they have this food-as-medicine philosophy and blueberries are considered a healthful food.

“The Times of India, the largest newspaper in the world in terms of circulation, almost every week has an article on blueberries, about how good they are for you,” he said.

Oregon, which began shipping fresh blueberries to India almost immediately after that market opened in 2008, was the first state to ship fresh blueberries into India, Payne said. And Oregon packers continue to do so today.

India companies also are beginning to look to frozen blueberries from the U.S. to use in bakery items, fillings, jams and juices, Payne said.

“The other development is the polybag business,” Payne said. Companies are distributing the polybag in India now. And it is all coming from the West Coast of the United States.”

In Japan the USHBC is attempting to expand the market by branching into previously untapped areas.

“We’re working in Sapporo, Okinawa, Fukuoka, a lot of these cities where they haven’t had a lot of exposure to blueberries in the past,” he said.

“We have had promotions in places like Sendai and Saitama, areas to the north of Tokyo, and we’ve had people basically mobbing the promotion trying to get samples,” he said. “Some of these people have never tasted fresh blueberries.

“That’s been an attractive promotion for Oregon. Japan is a real important market. We need to keep that going,” he said.

New markets being targeted by USHBC include Singapore and Taiwan.

“Those aren’t big markets, but these markets are catching on with the beauty aspects of blueberries. They associate blueberries with skin care,” he said.

Markets the USHBC is trying to open include the Philippines and Vietnam. “We’re working on convincing these countries that blueberries are safe and there is no problem with them,” he said.