When a season is being referred to as just “okay”, it is an indication that there is something lacking.
In this case, unfortunately for the UK soft fruit industry, that missing ingredient was volume. The volume of soft fruit being purchased in the UK multiples is down by 2.7 per cent [Kantar Worldpanel, 52 w/e 3 October].
Yields were low and sales were affected by consumers being asked to pay the right price for the fruit, rather than purchase the usually abundant two-for-one or half-price offers.
The volume of soft fruit was down due to a cold winter and spring, which resulted in poor flower initiation and therefore yield issues throughout the immediate season. However, the number of punnets of strawberries sold rose due to an increasing use of the 400g pack throughout the retail sector. The price of soft fruit in the multiples was on average 2.7 per cent higher than last year. So does that mean that UK growers are getting a better deal?
“Prices are higher because of a shortage of supply and the higher input costs associated with growing, packing and distributing soft fruit,” says one insider. “Growers’ profit is dependent both on the price sold, but more importantly on yield achieved, the percentage of the crop sold as class I and the percentage of the crop sold compared to the percentage lost through wastage.”
The only soft fruit that people are buying more of is blueberries, which Kantar Worldpanel believes is to do with their price decreasing due to various price promotions in the multiples. A relatively newly popular high-volume offer, blueberry volumes have increased despite the price per tonne, which has risen compared to 2009. “The rise in volume is due to increased availability worldwide through new acreage coming on stream and existing farms reaching maturity,” says a source. “The potential for blueberries is still high given their relatively low retail penetration level compared to strawberries.”
Overall the season has been challenging for all. As one grower puts it: “Inevitably with the UK season extending beyond five months, there are ups and downs in each product during that period. The higher prices have been necessary and welcome, the lower yields have been disappointing. On balance, it has been an okay season, but not vintage by a long shot.”
Nevertheless, in the breeding world, the 2010 strawberry season has proved to be a vintage year for East Malling Research (EMR). Its breeding programme, led by Dr David Simpson and Adam Whitehouse, has just completed a two-year commercial trial process managed by Sarah Troop and the Meiosis Ltd Funders Group, which has resulted in six varieties being released and gaining approval from many of the multiples. The wide acceptance by retailers of these varieties represents a further significant erosion of the dominant position that Elsanta has occupied for the last 20 years, and comes as a welcome reward for the Meiosis Funders Group, which has co-financed the East Malling programme throughout the Elsanta era.
The varieties include the June-bearers Elegance, Fenella, Cupid, Sweetheart and EM1119, together with the everbearer Finesse. And with no exclusive licence arrangements, these varieties are available for all growers to use.
Of the new varieties, Elegance stands out due to its excellent potential in 60-day cropping. The plants throw trusses at the same rate as Elsanta, but over a longer period of time resulting in higher truss numbers and yields. Benefiting from an extended shelf life pre- and post-harvest, the fruit is easy to pick and produces a high Class I percentage. Finesse combines a high yield of Class I fruit expected to be in excess of 1kg per plant in 2010.
Strawberry grower Neil Cockburn, who supplies Tesco and Asda and planted Fenella for the first time this season, says: “Fenella was planted in a field where wilt levels are historically high; they established and yielded well this year. Finding a variety that is accepted by the supermarkets with good wilt tolerance means we can reuse beds, which is a big advantage on our land that has grown strawberries for many years.”
The late season variety Cupid also shows good disease tolerance to wilt, crown rot, blackspot and mildew, having gained acceptance by Asda this year. It is also due to be sampled by further supermarkets next season. The mid-season Sweetheart is on the Asda list as well, though not yet widely grown.
The variety EM 1119 is due to be named and launched in 2011, but is also already approved by Asda. It regularly peaked around seven days ahead of Elsanta in trials and has a very distinct upright growth habit, with strong flower trusses held above the foliage, giving pickers easy access to the large, conical, well-shaped fruit.
SOUTH AMERICA SINGS THE BLUES
The Blueberries from the South television advertising campaign has kicked off, to coincide with the first arrivals of South American blueberries into the UK. This time round, the project is bigger than ever. Anna Sbuttoni reports.
The joint promotional venture between southern hemisphere berry heavyweights Chile, Argentina and Uruguay swung into action at the end of last month, when the Blueberries from the South campaign hit the UK once again.
The activity, which focuses on the distinctive soft fruit, is designed to help UK retailers sell more blueberries during the winter months. The project, as a whole, is a third bigger than last year and aims to reach out to more than 67 million TV viewers in the UK. The TV campaign alone is expected to reach more than 9.4m British viewers, who will on average get to see the commercial an average of 7.1 times during the four-month season, which will be aired on ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “It is essential for the category to start the promotional activity at the beginning of the season to rapidly build growth and consumer awareness and then maintain this momentum throughout the remainder of the season.
“Retailers will again have the opportunity to utilise the campaign and tag the adverts with their logos. This will ultimately help to drive consumers to their blueberry fixtures and raise awareness amongst their shoppers. It will also give retail buyers that extra leverage to confidently promote blueberries for a longer season.”
The Blueberries from the South TV campaign consists of a series of three 10-second animation spots. The first shows a blueberry morphing into a ringing alarm clock with the voiceover, “wake up to blueberries”. The second shows the fruit transforming from a green traffic light signal into a speeding blueberry car with the voiceover, “give yourself some go”. The final advert features a blueberry changing into a bouncing space hopper, with the message, “give yourself some bounce” to emphasis vitality.
Lianne Jones, from the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association, says the TV advert was designed to appeal to British consumers and uses a light-hearted approach to raise awareness of the fruit. “During this campaign, we want to reach out to the C2D market and highlight the fun and healthy properties of blueberries and promote the fruit as a must-have in the daily diet,” she says. “Rather than playing up to the origins and promoting the countries of origin, the creative for the TV ad focuses on the product and delivering a key message, themed ‘Get some blueberries in your life’.”
The adverts will be supported by the consumer-facing website www.blueberriesfromthesouth.com, which offers nutritional information and recipe ideas as well as featuring a trade enquiries and press section.
The campaign is driven by a group of growers and exporters from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, who are dedicated to promoting the exports of blueberries from the southern hemisphere. Together, they represent 20 per cent of the world’s farmed blueberries or 18,500 hectares, according to the US department of agriculture, as well as 80 per cent (52,000 tonnes) of total blueberry exports from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The members include 31 different exporter-grower companies from the three producing countries and two trade associations.
Chile is the major blueberry sender, with 65,000 tonnes earmarked for the UK, while Argentina is to send 65,000t and Uruguay kicks off the season, with 1,600t sent to the UK overall.
Horacio Ozer Ami, general manager of Midgold and chairman of Uruguayan blueberry association Upefruy, is anticipating a 15-20 per cent increase on last year’s volumes. “Fruit quality is very good right now and we expect to be in this way in the upcoming weeks. Fruit size is very good and flavour is exceptional,” he says. “The market now is good, with increasing demands in the UK and Europe. The offers are running in a more organised way this season. Prices in the UK were below those in the US market at the start of the season, but now Europe is more stable. More importers from UK and Europe are coming to South America looking for blueberries. We think volumes will keep increasing, but the UK needs to be more efficient in the chain. Logistics, packaging, handling at the destination and many different quality standards from different retailers make costs higher than in other markets.”
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