The switchover from the end of southern hemisphere supplies to the entrance of Egypt, Morocco and then Europe into the market has thrown up a number of challenges for growers, suppliers and retailers as they battle to secure volumes that meet the right standards just before UK demand takes off in the summer.
It has not been easy, but insiders admit that this period is one to watch out for every year. This time around, a number of promotions have helped to keep sales steady, even with limited volumes available in some cases.
Kantar Worldpanel figures for the last 12 months show that volumes have slipped by five per cent, as more than half a million shoppers have turned their back on the category and squeezed £9.8 million out of the job.
However, value has held steadier, falling just 0.5 per cent.
The main focus across many outlets has been on plums ahead of the full stonefruit basket coming into its own in the summer months.
Tesco has overperformed against the market by attracting new shoppers and penetration and even though the number-one retailer undertrades in stonefruit, it has grown in a declining category.
The real stars are Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, which overtrade and are top performers in volume, up by 23.2 per cent and 10.4 per cent respectively.
Sainsbury’s product technologist Theresa Huxley says the figures reflect an unprecedented push on quality to engage shoppers and keep them coming back to the fixture. She admits that the end of the South African and Chilean seasons is always difficult, but maintains that “we have not had the extreme issues that we have had before”.
“Our suppliers have managed quality very well and where they have had issues in raw material, they haven’t passed it on to us which means that even though availability has been hard, we have had fewer rejections and customer complaints,” she says. “We have managed fruit quality very well and our suppliers have too, as it’s no good to them to get complaints. We have managed it much tighter and that has been reflected in the figures.”
The retailer has thrown its weight behind a trio of “ripe and ready” peach and nectarine lines that it launched in October, named Honeyburst, Zingburst and Snowburst to reflect their flavour and flesh colour. “We have played with these over the winter period and we will back these as we move into summer,” says Huxley.
As supplies cross over to the northern hemisphere, it marks the start of a new push on stonefruit. Egyptian and Moroccan supplies are set to get underway, with retailers receiving the first samples of Moroccan and even early Spanish fruit this week. Importers had braced themselves for difficulties in trying to source Egyptian fruit following the political unrest, but so far it is actually the fruit itself that is missing the mark in the aftermath of tough production conditions.
“Availability has been pretty poor,” says Huxley, but she expects that volumes will build when Morocco comes on stream in the coming weeks. “I am surprised that availability has not been worse hit,” she adds. “We have got through it quite painlessly.”
The wholesale markets are negotiating their own hurdles, but all eyes are on next month when sales are expected to pick up.
Plums have been arriving in volume and prices have been squeezed to around 600p for 5kg. “It has been very tough to say the least,” says one supplier to the non-retail trade. “There have been too many plums coming onto the markets at the same time as a lack of excitement. South Africa had some late fruit and there is still a month’s worth of plums to come from Chile. Prices are not covering costs at the moment.”
Supplies of high-quality peaches and nectarines have been short, but one insider says that product has been selling this week at “crazy prices” for fruit “you can’t even eat”.
The first volumes of cherries could hit the markets within the week and make a fortune if good weather holds in key sources but it is more likely that supplies will come on line in May.
As spring kicks in, the industry is hopeful that demand will increase. “This is the sort of weather in which stonefruit sales fly, so we have to be optimistic,” says Huxley. “We will continue to work more closely with our growers for mutually beneficial results.”
JERTE VALLEY IN BLOSSOM
Cherries from the Jerte Valley are now in flower. Anna Sbuttoni looks at prospects for this year ahead of a season that will get underway at the end of the month.
Picota is one of the best-known cherries to come out of the Jerte Valley, but it is not the only one grown and harvested in the Spanish region of Extremadura.
Members of the Jerte Valley Association harvest around 10 million kilos of stalked cherries from the end of April to the beginning of August, including Burlat and Navalinda from the end of May and stretching to sweeter and darker types such as Van, Lapins and Sweet Heart from June.
However, it is the distinctive Picota type that attracts attention from the UK market as a stalkless type that is protected by a designation of origin certificate and only grows in the Jerte Valley, which stretches over 70km and covers around 10,000 hectares.
The area in the north of the Caceres province in Spain, where the north-east to south-west orientation of the area, with its sunny terraces and specific soil type, provides ideal growing conditions for the protected variety.
The cherries known as Picota include the Ambrunés variety, which accounts for 70 per cent of the total crop, followed by later varieties Pico Negro, Pico Colorado and Limón Negro. The fruit, which has high brix levels of up to 24, is certified to verify that it has been grown, harvested and packed under specific quality control procedures.
Record volumes of Picota were sold in the UK market in 2010, in spite of the fruit coming on stream two weeks late and the season lasting just four weeks as opposed to the six to seven weeks spanned in 2009.
Approximately six million punnets of Picota cherries were sold in five UK retailers during June and July last year, compared with four million the previous year, with total volumes growing more than 50 per cent to around 1,473 tonnes.
In fact, Spain exports approximately 40 per cent of its production and the UK represents one of Spain’s largest Picota cherry markets alongside Germany.
The season, which runs from mid-June and through July, is backed by a campaign supported by producer groups Agrupación de Cooperativas Valle del Jerte, the Cooperativa del Campo Navaconcejo and Grupo Alba, as well as Foods from Spain, which organises promotional activities to support sales.
This focuses on shopper sampling, on-pack competitions and offers, as well as advertising at the point of sale in five major supermarkets. At the same time, Foods from Spain’s promotional push features consumer advertising and on- and in-pack offers, as well as consumer and trade PR.
This time around, the promotional drive will build on in-store mechanics such as sampling and in-pack recipe booklets as well as focus on social media and consumer websites.
It is too early to tell how the season will play out but with marketing strategies in place, growers and suppliers will be hoping for a good return.
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