• Blueberry exports rose 112% to US$8 million in January–July 2026.
• Recorded blueberry area increased 11% to 746 hectares this season
• Global supply expansion places greater weight on yields, timing and logistics costs

Receipts rose 112% from US$3.8 million, with recorded planted area increasing 11%, leaving yields, market timing and freight economics to determine how far the crop can scale

Harare- Zimbabwe has earned US$8.01 million from blueberry exports between January and July 2026, up 112% from US$3.78 million over the corresponding period last year, extending one of the fastest-growing horticultural lines in an export basket increasingly concentrated around minerals and tobacco. July generated US$4.25 million alone, accounting for 53% of the seven-month blueberry receipts.

The increase has become large enough to dominate its immediate customs category. The broader “other fresh fruit” grouping generated about US$8.5 million during the first seven months of 2026 against roughly US$4.4 million a year earlier. Blueberries therefore supplied close to 94% of the latest category value and effectively accounted for its expansion.

The production base is growing considerably slower than export receipts. Zimbabwe’s 2026 Crop, Livestock and Fisheries Assessment recorded 746 hectares under blueberries in the 2025/26 season, up 11% from 670 hectares the previous season. The increase in export value has therefore greatly exceeded the measured expansion in planted area, placing maturing orchards, higher commercial yields and increased exportable output at the centre of the current growth phase.

Industry estimates point to further expansion during the current marketing year. The Horticultural Development Council expects Zimbabwe to export about 12,000 tonnes from roughly 850 hectares in 2026, following approximately 9,500 tonnes from 650 hectares in 2025. The Ministry figure is a season survey and the HDC number is an industry estimate for the evolving 2026 crop, so they provide different snapshots of a sector still adding orchards and bringing younger plantings into production.

The customs growth is also being driven heavily by volume. ZIMSTAT data for the first half of 2026 put shipments at about 1.9 million kilograms, more than double the 900,000 kilograms exported in the same period last year. Earnings increased from US$2.1 million to US$3.8 million over that period.

Those figures expose the first commercial constraint beneath the rapid headline growth. Dividing export earnings by reported volume gives an average customs value of about US$2.00 per kilogram in the first half of 2026, down from roughly US$2.33 per kilogram a year earlier. Export volume increased by about 111%, with value increasing 76%.

Zimbabwe is therefore extracting substantially greater total foreign currency from blueberries because much more fruit is reaching export markets. Maintaining that trajectory requires volume growth to continue without allowing unit values and margins to deteriorate faster than productivity improves.

Global conditions make that increasingly important. The International Blueberry Organization estimates world blueberry production at 2.15 million tonnes in 2024 and projects output reaching 3.2 million tonnes by 2028, an increase of almost 50%. 17% of global planted hectares had yet to enter commercial production, creating another pipeline of supply beyond farms already producing.

Peru shows what industrial-scale blueberry production can become. The world's dominant exporter shipped about 412,000 tonnes worth US$2.56 billion in 2025, reaching 66 markets. Export volumes increased 17%, with average prices easing as the market absorbed additional supply.

Zimbabwe operates at a fraction of that scale. It is currently Africa's third-largest blueberry producer behind Morocco and South Africa, according to industry data cited by Reuters. South Africa exported around 25,000 tonnes in its previous season, and Morocco produced more than 70,000 tonnes in 2024. Zimbabwe's expected 12,000 tonnes therefore places it among Africa's emerging commercial producers without yet giving it the scale enjoyed by established competitors.

Zimbabwe's strongest competitive asset is its production window. The local export season generally runs from April to October, with about 60% of volumes harvested between August and October. Growers can reach international markets ahead of the heaviest Peruvian supply when crop timing is favourable, creating opportunities to capture stronger prices before global volumes intensify.

That advantage weakened during the 2025 season when Zimbabwe's crop matured later and overlapped with increasing Peruvian supply and production from South Africa's Western Cape. Industry participants reported pressure on late-season pricing and have placed renewed emphasis on earlier varieties and production management to recover the premium window.

China adds a new destination to that strategy. Zimbabwe dispatched its first blueberry consignments there in July following the phytosanitary protocol agreed in 2025. The initial fruit travelled by road to Johannesburg and then by air to Shanghai through Hong Kong, with exporters also testing sea freight and cold-treatment options.

The logistics model carries considerable weight in the economics of the crop. Blueberries require uninterrupted cold-chain handling, rapid movement and high consistency in fruit firmness and size. Routing fruit through South Africa before onward airfreight raises the cost threshold that Zimbabwean berries must clear before new Asian sales become commercially superior to established European, Middle Eastern and regional markets.

Peru has moved in the opposite logistics direction. Direct connections from the Port of Chancay have helped reduce transit costs into Asia, contributing to a **153% increase in Peruvian blueberry exports to China in 2025**. Zimbabwe therefore enters the Chinese market against suppliers combining greater scale with increasingly efficient transport infrastructure.

The domestic investment requirement extends beyond new hectares. Blueberry expansion requires irrigation, proprietary genetics, packhouses, cooling facilities, power security and export finance. HDC has repeatedly identified long-term funding, electricity, export retention rules and logistics among the constraints to faster horticultural investment.

For Zimbabwe's wider export economy, the current US$8 million remains small. It represents about 0.1% of the US$7.36 billion merchandise exports recorded through July, against an identified mineral-linked share approaching 86%.

Its importance lies in the economics being built underneath that number. Blueberries are generating rising export receipts from a relatively compact agricultural footprint, accessing several premium markets and adding foreign-currency earnings outside the mining and tobacco complex. The crop has moved far enough beyond experimental production for the next phase to be assessed commercially rather than by hectarage alone.

The forward benchmarks are now export value per kilogram, tonnes per hectare, freight cost per kilogram and recurring sales into China alongside established markets. With much of Zimbabwe's blueberry season concentrated between August and October, the remaining 2026 trade data will provide a stronger test of whether the current US$8 million run can translate into another full-year step-up without sacrificing the unit economics required to finance continued expansion.

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