What is the distribution of processed raspberries to retail, foodservice, and food manufacturing channels?

Acquiring and tracking this information establishes a benchmark for calculating change in usage over time as a measurement of program effectiveness and ensures that marketing programs are properly focused, both on existing channel movement and future opportunities as identified through market research.

If a generalization can be made regarding utilization of processed raspberry products by channel of distribution (IQF to retail, and juice/juice concentrate and/or puree to food service or food manufacturers), then we can use U.S. Customs data to quantify imports by channel. As there currently is no similar data by product type available for domestic production, the Council will be launching a survey of processors this Fall seeking to identify finished product volume to gain a sense of the total market.

Let’s take a look at what we know about U.S. imports of processed raspberries, based on data from the Global Agricultural Trade System database (www.usda.fas.gov). Chile is the most valuable exporter of IQF raspberries to the United States followed by Serbia, Mexico, and Canada. Over the last few years, IQF imports from Mexico have shown the largest growth, doubling in each of the last two years.

For juice concentrate, Canada is our largest trading partner, followed by Chile. Together, these two countries supplied almost 50% of the concentrate imported in 2014. As recently as 2012, Chile was the dominant supplier of concentrate.

Canada is the leading supplier of pureed raspberries to the United States.

And finally, the total U.S. processed raspberry market has grown to almost 140 million pounds over the last ten years, with domestic production holding an average 58% market share during this period.

These data are only a glimpse of the resources available to help answer marketing questions and guide the decision-making process. Importantly, they show that the U.S market for processed raspberries is robust and growing. As marketers, we are confident that there will be an adequate supply of raspberries, a combination of domestic production and imported product, to aggressively educate target audiences about the benefits and advantages of raspberries and build long-term demand. This process has begun and is taking root. In conjunction with trade information collected in marketplace surveys, the Council will track total supply by product type to ensure its marketing programs are focused on current and emerging opportunities.