Information about berry crops 2024

Bilberry stocks will be smaller

Bilberry crop ripened extra early this season and the crop is at least moderate all over Finland.
However, the delay in getting foreign berry pickers to Finland remarkably affects the size of the commercial bilberry crop this year. The number of foreign pickers is much less than previous years and also the picking season is going to be several weeks shorter.

Size of the total commercial bilberry crop is estimated to be much smaller than in last year (4,0 Mkg 2023). A cautious estimate is that the crop size will only be half of the 2023 crop at most.

Poor availability has affected purchase prices of wild bilberry. The price has been this season
appr. 80 % higher than in the previous year. In addition to small amount of pickers, the price is also affected by the new regulation which requires that the pickers are employed by the berry companies. In our view, the price of bilberry will stay on higher level also for the coming years.

Lingonberry crop expected to be good

Lingonberry crop will be good all over Finland, even excellent at some parts of the country. The main harvest will ripen within a couple of weeks.

The commercial lingonberry crop will, however, be much less than last season because of the smaller number of foreign pickers. Our estimate of the total commercial crop is 2-3 Mkg, while in 2023 it was 5,2 Mkg.

Even though the harvest season for lingonberry is only about to begin, the purchase price has been already 50 % higher than last season. Reasons for increased price are the same as for bilberry.  It can be assumed that the price of lingonberry will stay on higher level also for the coming seasons.

Make sure to have enough berries

By making the purchase agreement early enough, you can ensure getting the required amount of berries for your needs. We will be ready to issue offers as soon as the yield is confirmed.