Candine closes a strong season in Asia

The 2024/25 Candine apple season has come to a successful conclusion with French cooperative Blue Whale reporting strong results for the variety in Asia, especially in Vietnam, the leading destination for the variety.

Favourable weather conditions set the season up for success, with growers reporting excellent quality across the board. The conditions helped to accentuate the apple’s “vibrant flavour and perfect crunch”, according to Benoit Barache, Blue Whale’s marketing manager Asia.

Blue Whale invested significantly in the key market of Vietnam to promote the variety above and below the line this season.

“We partnered with top receivers in retail and wholesale to promote the return of the variety in December 2024,” said Barache.

“The communication plan was followed with the sponsorship of Ho Chi Minh City Marathon before Tet festivities. It was the opportunity to showcase Candine to 15,000 runners and promote with engaging activities for three days. 

“At the tail end of the season, Candine was among the star products showcased during Balade en France, where 400,000 visitors could engage with French culture.”

Blue Whale also partnered with Wincommerce and MTV to run a branded booth and a pop-up store for Candine. This season 9 tonnes of fruit were sold at the event, more than double last season’s total of 4 tonnes.

“We are also delighted to have driven traffic to both channels partnering with our key customers,” said Barache.

“Building a new variety is quite a challenge as we want to guarantee both customers and growers satisfaction to have sustainable growth. Candine has proven to be our hero variety in Asia with Vietnam leading. Other zones also have high potential given the fact that we were elected product of the year in Singapore, and also reached the Philippines and Hong Kong in retail for the first year. We look forward to building Candine even further next year.”