Traditionally Romania is not known for its large blueberry production, but things are changing. Big investment is being made in the country and new varieties are being planted which are set to come onto the market in big volumes in 2027, FreshPlaza informs.
“Most growers have been growing the old varieties, it has only been since 2021 onwards that new varieties like Sekoya from Fall Creek have been planted,” explains George Milos from Agricrafters. “We have partnered with Agrovision who is one of the licensed distributors of the Sekoya variety worldwide.”
Blueberries are mostly grown on open ground and on a normal soil bed, it is only recently that growers have started growing in tunnels and pots.
“We had in mind to grow in soil, but the soil does not have the appropriate attributes, so we decided to grow in pots instead. Why invest in the best varieties and plant them in bad soil?”
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George said that Sekoya is the ‘next big thing’ in the blueberry world, the new gold rush. “A few years ago, retailers hadn’t heard of this variety, but now they want it. They have seen the good results from the low-chill varieties planted in Peru or Morocco, we are now seeing the results from the high-chill varieties.”
Agricrafters planted 62 hectares in 2024, this will increase with another 94 hectares in 2025, with the goal to reach 1000 hectares in 5-7 years, premium varieties.
“We aim to be the biggest producer of premium blueberries in Europe. There is a need for massive investment, so now in the beginning, raising the necessary funding is the biggest challenge, but as we start production and sales, it will go easier.”
The Romanian season runs from June 15th up to August 31st, give or take a week depending on climatic conditions. “We hope to have fruit for the whole season, at the moment we have early and mid-season plants, and will start to plant the later varieties too. Our season overlaps that of Serbia and Portugal at the start and most of Northern Europe at the end, but most of these countries still need to import blueberries. We hope to have very good quality blueberries, jumbo sizes, and excellent firmness to have an advantage.”
Initially, these blueberries will be marketed in Europe; the UK, Germany, and The Netherlands. “The Sekoya varieties have very good shelf-life and there is great potential to supply markets in the Middle and Far East. Romania also has good logistics, being well positioned at the Black Sea. We are only 10-12 days away from Saudi Arabia, 20 days from Dubai, and around 30-35 from India and China.
Labor supply
Romania has always had a good supply of relatively cheap labor, but things are changing. “We are still lucky to have cheaper labor than most Western European countries, but there is investment in all sectors in the country and more jobs are available now. This leaves less labor for picking fruit, but in our area, we have a lot of people who are used to working on farms and can earn good money. We are ok with labor at the moment, but we are also looking into the future and machine harvesting. It is important to look at the varieties you are planting, making sure they are compatible with machine harvesting when the technology becomes good enough to shift from manual harvest to machine harvest.”
The first commercial production will be in 2026 with 450-500 tonnes, volumes are expected to increase each year until 28-30 tonnes per hectare can be achieved.
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