The blueberry is a very old plant of unknown origin, that grows spontaneously in the N of Europe, Asia and America. Some consider it native to Europe, North Africa, the Caucasus and N Asia. In Spain it is widely spread in the forests of the mountainous areas.

The continent with greater production is North America, standing for 96% of the world-wide production. Europe produces approximately 4% of the total, whereas the rest of the continents do not have a remarkable production.

Continent	Tons	%
Africa	50	-
Asia	850	-
Europe	12,500	4
North America	294,400	96
Total	307,800	100

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 1998

In the FAO’s statistical data base there only appear 6 producers of blueberries. The main one are the United States, followed by Canada and Latvia:

Country	Tons
The United States	264,900
Canada	29,500
Latvia	8,000
Belarus	4,500
Azerbaijan	850
Tunisia	50

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 1998

Among the exporters, the leader are the United States, followed by Chile. The rest of the countries export insignificant amounts.

Country	Tons
The United States	6,549
Chile	3,420
Belarus	240
Lituania	202
Macedonia	150
Belgium-Luxembourg	129
The Netherlands	107
Azerbaijan	39
Turkey	38
Italy	24

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, 1998