I grew raspberries commercially in Vietnam, for local and export markets.

The problem with many temperate fruits is they need a minimum chilling period to set flower buds. But it farmers can move around by using low chill varieties or adapting farming technics.

There’s actually great conditions for berries in the tropics once you’re high enough (1000 - 1500 m asl) - forget Singapore. Altitude temperatures are roughly constant - not warm but no winter either - so there is not enough chilling. But you can successfully grow …

• Primocane raspberries. Most varieties are floricanes ie most of the harvest happens at spring after having the canes chilled during winter. Primocanes are selected to produce mostly a autumn harvest - before chilling. The cooler the temperatures, the better the quality / shelf life. Our farm was at 1100m high, not far from Da Lat, south Highlands.
• Same thing for strawberries. “Ever-bearing” varieties produce flowers continually but are sensitive to temperature. The warmer you are, the more suckers and less flowers you will get. In Vietnam, most of the production is around Da Lat, around 1500m high.

In both case, you can produce year-long. We could harvest and ship raspberries 356 days a year, temperatures never been a problem. Rain on an other hand is a huge issue so we had to grow under shed. Strawberries are equally grown outside and indoor for higher productivity.

Young raspberry plantation. Note we’re indoor, but super cheap. There is more affordable steel structures now on the market so you won’t see that anymore.

3 months later. Since it’s a primocane, all the flowers are at the apex. Once there’s nothing left to harvest, you rase it down to the ground. New canes will produce 4 months later.

Why is it expensive since there is a local production (with cheap manpower) ?

• Captive market : fresh fruits berries = air transport. It’s super expensive. Hence for us, our most profitable market was Vietnam (no competition, no freight), then the “cheap” air-freight countries (HKG, BKK, SIN).
• Small production, huge popularity. Everybody knows strawberry, it’s super popular. But the local production areas are very restricted : highlands only. There is little space around Da Lat and so many “exotic” crops to grow.
• Very perishable. Our raspberries had to hit the shelves within 48 hours. Strawberries are doing better. We had big losses at farm gates (ie not sold in time and downgraded to “jam quality”) and it’s much worse at retailers. If half of the fruits end up in the supermarket’s trash bin, no wonder they need to double prices.