TESCO has launched a Save Our Satsumas campaign with its category supplier Muñoz Mehadrin UK.
As the UK market apparently bucks a world-wide trend for clementines in favour of satsumas, importers are facing a challenge to fill gaps in the supply calendar. The main problem is in February, but supplies also dip in August and September as growers switch production to clems, particularly in Spain.
"Our main focus is Spain,” said a Tesco spokesman. "Fewer trees are being planted for satsuma production. But we are saying to growers we can offer them a guarantee on the quantities that we will buy in return for them continuing to grow satsumas."
Muñoz Mehadrin UK is already tackling the problem. "We have growers concentrating on satsumas world-wide and with this commitment from Tesco, we can work towards 52-week availability," said a spokeswoman. "There is research work going on in the EU and Japan and we are looking at new varieties to lengthen the seasons at the beginning and the end and also developing new storage programmes."
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