Soft fruit is capitalising on its annual moment in the sun as a later Wimbledon saw better availability with sales forecasted to top last year.
Retailers are working to strip back ranges in order to clarify the offer in store, leading to higher shopper frequency, while net returns to growers are expected to be up on last year. In volume terms, the category has grown by 5.6 per cent, while the value has risen by a healthy 11.3 per cent [52 w/e 21 June, KWP].
Despite the overall growth of the category, there is some discrepancy among sub-categories. “Strawberry performed behind top-line soft fruit and only just managed to generate spend growth in the latest 12 weeks, as it experiences some of the highest levels of deflation in the category,” explains AG Thames’ category insight manager, Jo Mumford.
“Raspberry exhibited the greatest contribution to top-line growth, up 30 per cent year on year. Ranges have been reduced to enable focus on key packs to drive better on-shelf availability.” Blueberry delivered the second strongest market growth performance, while blueberries used cross-category offers to benefit from higher levels of footfall, she adds.
“Market support for the category remains strong, with greater use of secondary space reinforcing extra promotional activity,” says Mumford.
“Range proliferation has been pared back across the market and consistent promotional mechanics have been designed to emphasise and clarify the offer. As a result greater shopper numbers have
visited the soft-fruit fixture more frequently.”
Chairman of industry body British Summer Fruits, Laurence Olins, credits availability and increase in demand for the rise in volumes and value. “The UK season is slightly behind by about a week, primarily because of the early season last year. But it is improving week by week, and overall we are predicting an increase on last year.
“Net returns will be more positive this year as demand has kept strong. We haven’t had the lows we had last year,” he adds. Although it’s difficult to compare like for like on Wimbledon sales – the tournament fell a week later this year – Olins says sales are up 13 per cent. He explains: “This year we still had some main crop, as well as some ever-bearers and 60-day crop.”
One of the current talking points in the soft-fruit trade, according to CPM Retail’s account manager James Finch, is the growth of the British glasshouse strawberry.
“Continual attempts to extend the season by producing more fruit under glass raises questions relating to impact on prices, and whether increasing volumes threaten the chance of prices being pushed below sustainable levels for existing producers.”
Finch also points to the transition of blueberry supply between the northern and southern hemisphere. “Peru looks to be offering a solution to bridge the end of northern European supply to the first fruit in Argentina,” he says. “This has raised questions about whether rumoured volumes are enough to significantly improve the offer for British consumers and, additionally, what role South Africa has in this supply bridge.”
With a buoyant and well-publicised UK season, Olins also suggests overseas supply is the biggest challenge facing berries. “We struggle more in the winter to meet retailers’ demands – this is the biggest problem for the industry,” he says. “Eastern and southern Mediterranean producing regions will be key to meeting this challenge.”
The category is currently worth just under £1bn, and Olins says he is “confident” that sales will reach that figure in 2015. “The berry category is growing at a rate of 12 per cent, and it’s not flattening off. There is a strong PR campaign alongside the category all year round, which must have an effect, so I can’t see that rate diminishing.”
Jacqui Green, sales and procurement director at Berry Gardens, notes the growth potential for consumers to use berries in savoury dishes: “The foodie magazines are becoming more interested in savoury recipes featuring berries, such as adding to salads or creating a compote to go with a goats cheese dish.”
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