US fruit marketing body the Washington Apple Commission (WAC) is ramping up promotional activities in India to provide consumers with fun ways to use Washington apples.
In association with the Food Bloggers Association of India, WAC launched a ‘Washington apple tea party’ on social media earlier this month, which garnered 1.6m impressions in two hours, Rebecca Lyons, WAC international marketing director, told Fruitnet.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, WAC celebrated the release of a Washington apple cook ‘bookzine’ with a Washington apple chef cook-off that pitted top home cooks against professional chefs in a competition to create tasty dishes using Washington apples.
“This event generated over 2m impressions, as well as some tasty recipes,” Lyons said.
WAC conducts promotional activities in ten Asian countries, with a special emphasis in India, China, Indonesia and Vietnam, she added.
“Our focus continues to be at retail point-of-purchase with point-of-sale materials, sampling activities, on pack stickers and in-store events such as display contests. However, as social media and e-commerce grow in popularity, WAC is ramping up activities to provide consumers with interesting apple content and fun ways to incorporate Washington apples into their lifestyles,' Lyons said.
This season to date, WAC exports to India are more than double last year’s levels, and could surpass WAC’s record 5.6m cartons exported there in 2014/15 by the season end, Lyons said.
“We are just hitting our stride there now,” Lyons said, speaking this week (10 April). “India is a late season market – although we ship some fruit year-round, the bulk of Washington shipments occur after the domestic Indian crop is through the distribution pipeline.”
Exports to Asia, including India, are up 28 per cent so far this season, and overall export volumes are up over 20 per cent season-to-date from the 2015/16 crop.
“The stronger US dollar has created challenges in some markets and created opportunities for competition from EU suppliers, however, volumes continue to move into traditionally strong Washington export markets such as Taiwan, as well as newer markets such as Vietnam and China,” Lyons said.
Direct shipments to China continue to increase, and are up 25 per cent season-to-date over 2015/16, which marked the first full year of access.
“The WAC China office continues to work on expanding activities in the second and third tier cities to help grow opportunities in those regions,' Lyons told Fruitnet.
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