Major Thai fresh fruit importer Vachamon is reflecting on a record year for imports of the trademarked Jazz apple in 2011 and working to ramp up volumes for the 2012 campaign.
Leading New Zealand apple marketer Enza owns the rights to the Jazz variety, and the country remains the primary supply source of fruit for the Thailand programme.
Vachamon has imported more than 100 containers of Jazz from New Zealand in 2011, well ahead of the targeted volume of 65-70 containers, and it hopes to double the size of the programme in 2012, according to the company’s business development manager, Wipavee Watcharakorn.
“We handled 105 containers from New Zealand and we are looking to increase this to 150-200 containers next year,” she told Fruitnet.com.
Imports from New Zealand are complemented by counterseasonal production of US-grown Jazz, which is also on the rise.
“We’re ordering our US fruit now and we’re targeting a volume of around 48-60 containers, up from 20 containers in 2011,” Watcharakorn added.
Jazz has been finding favour with Thai consumers, particularly the younger generations, according to Watcharakorn. “The vast majority of our consumers are aged between 10 and 50 years. We find that older people don’t like it so much,” she said. “Around 30 or 40 per cent of our sales are focused on Bangkok, with the remainder coming from the other cities.”
Exclusivity and effort key
Holding the exclusive marketing rights to the variety in Thailand has been key to success for Vachamon, she added, as it has enabled the company to control the distribution and pricing.
“When we have exclusivity we can control the supply and know exactly how much supply is in the market,” said Watcharakorn. “We can figure out what the demand is and match this with the supply and maintain the price at a good level.”
Market pricing of Jazz needs to be maintained at levels that are at least 10 per cent higher than the Royal Gala variety, she noted, not least to cover the higher production cost.
As exclusive agent for Jazz, Vachamon has also invested a great deal of effort in raising awareness of the product and the brand at trade and consumer level.
“We’ve conducted a lot of activities because success does not come for free,” Watcharakorn said. “We’ve done a lot of free tastings, giveways of a Jazz-branded water bottle as well as shirts and shopping bags. We've also held various events and wholesaler promotions and we’ve even done a TV scoop and news piece on fruit imports to Thailand.”
These multiple activities were funded on a relatively modest budget, she pointed out. “We received around US$20,000 from Delica to promote Jazz this year,” noted Watcharakorn. “We did so many activities but didn’t spend that much money. It goes to show that the effort we put in is a lot more important than the money when it comes to promoting Jazz. Next year we will continue and we think we’ll have more success.”
Weathering the floods
Vachamon has managed to maintain its Jazz campaign despite the worst floods to hit Thailand in more than half a century.
With water levels a metre high around its main distribution centre, Vachamon has temporarily relocated its operations to Leam Cha Bang port, where it is renting a cargo yard with an office area.
“Other people are opening their containers in the market and selling the fruit in the market on a daily basis without moving it into cold storage,” Watcharakorn added. “If they take their fruits into cold storage, it’ll be very difficult to get them out again because the water levels are still high around many facilities.”
Trucking operators have also been reluctant to visit the markets in flood-affected areas, which is providing further challenges, but while distribution has been disrupted, she said market demand is still strong.
