The soft fruit industry is in good shape after last season when the multiples concentrated – to the exclusion of imports – on selling UK strawberries and raspberries. But there is a nagging concern that price competition could seriously damage the momentum which has sustained sales over the past decade.

This week's two-day Adas/Emra/HRI conference in Ashford – attended by plant breeders, growers, marketeers and supermarket buyers – pondered this issue, looked at new varieties and learnt from overseas experience.

Reviewing 2002, Nick Marston, md of KG Fruits, revealed strawberry volumes were up 22 per cent compared with 2000, at 23,750 tonnes. Additionally raspberry sales had boomed, reaching 1,387t.

Measured against other fruit on an annual basis, strawberry sales were up by 13.9 per cent, and raspberries by 51 per cent in the period April 28 to October 15. The total market had seen 8.5 per cent growth in this period.

While berry fruit has done well compared with grape and apples, Marston warned that the competition came from improved quality and a wider range of summer stonefruit which had also risen by 19.8 per cent.

With the majority of soft fruit sales going to the multiple trade, Marston also praised the sector for the support given, citing Marks & Spencer and Waitrose as among the most committed, followed by Tesco which enjoyed top market share of 23.5 per cent, followed by Sainsbury's which grew by 41 per cent.

Percentages, of course, are unrealistic without volume figures, but Safeway was congratulated for a 360 per cent sales increase.

Topics