Gerhard Dichgans VOG

One of Europe's leading apple marketers believes the market is currently oversupplied when it comes to licensed and so-called club varieties, placing in doubt the long-term comercial survival of those which cannot make the grade in terms of consumer satisfaction and returns to the trade.

Speaking exclusively to Eurofruit ahead of the international apple industry event Interpoma, the managing director of Italian company VOG, Gerhard Dichgans, said he was unconvinced about the viability of certain protected apple varieties and questioned the wisdom of investing in club projects where question marks remained over quality, yields and profitability.

"I think the big question mark `for the apple industry` is over the future of varietal innovation," he suggested. "At Interpoma, we will see many new varieties presented, all looking for a share and a place in the market.

"Which ones deliver something more special in terms of added value than others in the market? Which of them are average and just lookalikes? The challenge is to find the next winner, but there are too many around for all of them to make it."

Although such varieties only make up a small proportion of overall apple production worldwide, with their total volume dwarved by free varieties like Gala, Braeburn, Fuji and Golden Delicious, their impact in terms of marketing spend has been significant in recent years.

The past decade has seen an explosion of interest and investment in managed apple varieties and groups of varieties, which now form a long list of commercial names including: Ambrosia, Arctic Golden, Arctic Granny, Ariane, Ariwa, Autento, Aztec, Cameo, Candy, Choupette, Enchanted, Envy, Eva, Evelina, Evolution, Fireside, Galmac, Greenstar, Haralson, Honeycrisp, Honeycrunch, Honeygold, Isaaq, Jazz, Juliet, Junami, Kalei, Kanzi, Kiku, Lady Alice, Marlene, Mairac, Modì, Mozart, Opal, Pacific Rose, Pink Lady, Piñata, PremA153, PremA197, Red Prince, Redlove, Rubens, Smitten, Sonya, SweeTango, Sweeties, Tentation, Toshiro, Tunda, Wellant, Zari, Zestar and Zonga.

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