While Britain basked in glorious weather this summer, berry growers and marketers were also enjoying the sun. After a three-week delay to the season caused by the cold spring, disaster was averted by the heatwave, which ensured bumper crops of unusually large and sweet strawberries hit the shops in July.
Consumers responded well, and four-week Kantar data for July shows value sales of strawberries increased 15.8 per cent and volumes were up 28.9 per cent compared to the same period last year.
This was welcome news for many growers, as the picture for the year overall shows the berry market to be largely static. Currently valued at £800 million, berries and currants grew this year just 0.7 per cent in volume and 4.6 per cent in value [Kantar, 52 w/e 18 August].
“The late start means as an industry we will only just about sell as many tonnes as we did last year, but hopefully at slightly better selling prices,” says Nick Marston, managing director of Berry Gardens.
The glut wasn’t great for everyone, however, says Laurence Olins, chairman of British Summer Fruits, with some growers expecting returns of between five per cent and 10 per cent lower than last year. “There are pockets of improvement on the south coast or Scotland but on the whole it has been a poorer returning year than last year and the yield has been no better than last year,” he says. “The one crop where lateness has helped is blueberries because it has avoided the glut of Polish blueberries in July and has meant UK blueberries have been able to compete with the very expensive Argentinean crop,” adds Olins.
While strawberries hold the lion’s share of the market, with a 56.7 per cent share, they are in annual decline, with sales down four per cent year on year, according to Kantar. The real winners of the soft-fruit category are blueberries – which are worth £165.8m, up 16.4 per cent.
Jeremy Trehane of the Dorset Blueberry Company says the weather produced a very good crop of blueberries, both in quality and yield. “Because we’ve had long spells without rain, the sun has really converted the acids to sugar and given really fantastic
flavour. It is a complete contrast to last year.” Sweeter, better-eating varieties of all berries are continuing to provide the main impetus for growth, according to Marston. He says the company has planted increased volumes of sweet-eating raspberries, for the counter season in Morocco, which he believes will boost consumer demand. “Our share of the raspberry market has increased again and the excellent eating quality of Driscoll’s varieties, which is primarily Maravilla plus also new additions like Margarita, are continuing to drive demand. We are seeing year-on-year demand up about 15 per cent on raspberries.”
A big push to get sweeter eating blackberries into supermarkets is also paying dividends, he adds. “Retailers have differentiated sweeter and tangy varieties, and have had a lot of success increasing sales.” Currently in blackberries, Berry Gardens has Driscoll’s Carmel, and Cowles in production. “We will be increasing volumes next year and we also have two new varieties which are Victoria and King George,” he says. “Retailers who have gone for that wholeheartedly have seen excellent sales increases this year with a 25 per cent uplift in blackberry sales over the year.”
The company is introducing Driscoll’s Solero to Tesco this year, a new Junebearer that has proved to be high yielding but with good flavour. Growers have increased production of Driscoll’s Diamond for exclusive sale to Marks & Spencer, while two further new Driscoll’s varieties are being introduced in this everbearing season, Scarlet and Serena.
Scarlet is a high-yielding, disease-tolerant variety with better flavour scores than most everbearers, while Serena is a late everbearer with good eating quality as well as high
yield potential.
Retail buyers are starting to pay more attention to varieties, says Olins, and are becoming more discerning in their requirements. “It is the first year we have seen a change in that regard,” he says. “There aren’t higher prices being paid, but there is a preference for certain varieties. The general trend is that retail customers are become more discerning, especially when there is an oversupply.”
Marston says consumers also are paying more attention to variety. “I think we are quite a long way off being in the varietal position of the wine industry, but I think consumers are looking for great eating berries and some retailers are not putting varieties on the label.”
In retailers, mixed berry packs are performing well, adds Marston, with more variants and combinations in a greater number of stores. There are also some niche products entering the market. Berry Gardens is launching aronia berries into Tesco next week in 250g punnets in a limited volume trial. Aronia berries are “similar to a blueberry but they are very high in antioxidants,” according to Marston. “They do a similar job to goji berries so they are super healthy.”
The past decade has seen huge progress in the berry industry, with double-digit growth nearly every year. However, consumption is still dominated by over 65s and Olins says British Summer Fruits will continue to aim its promotion at young families to try to maintain growth for the future. —
No comments yet