Sun Pacific and Sunkist say they see good potential in the market for oranges with guaranteed sweetness
Major US citrus grower-marketers Sun Pacific and Sunkist promoted their high-Brix navel orange offerings at the Asia Fruit Logistica China Business Meet Up in Shanghai on 27-28 May.
Both companies say they see exciting potential for oranges with guaranteed high sweetness in the China market. The timing of the event towards the end of the US navel orange season presented an opportunity to sample fruit to the local trade.
Sun Pacific markets Brix-sensored oranges under the PureSpect label, which provides an ideal sugar to acid ratio. The brand has developed a strong following in Korea in particular, as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to Elizabeth Martin, Sun Pacific’s export sales manager. The company also offers two other high-Brix brands, Vintage Sweet and L-Sweet.
The PureSpect label originates from Korea, where the company that bears its name developed a machine for testing the Brix level of the fruit.
“Sun Pacific has the exclusive rights to the label in Korea and Hong Kong and we lease the Brix-testing machinery from PureSpect for grading our fruit,” says Martin.
While the PureSpect machine sensors Brix levels to guarantee a consistent standard, Martin says it is Sun Pacific’s farming practices that enable the company to supply high-Brix oranges. PureSpect-branded fruit has proven popular in export markets, where customers pay a premium for the fruit over other brands of navels, according to Martin.
“Over the last fifteen years, we turned the Korean market into a high-Brix market, and we turned 30-40 per cent of the business in Hong Kong to high-Brix.
“Now we see big opportunities in China because there aren’t many differentiators among navels in the market but high-Brix makes a big difference.”
Martin says Sun Pacific’s high-Brix oranges would “be selling all over China” already, if it were not for the US-China trade war of recent years, which saw China increase the import tariff on US citrus.
“China’s import duty on our oranges is now 26 per cent plus 9 per cent VAT,” she says. “It makes things tough for us.”
Nevertheless, Martin was enthused by the positive response from Chinese buyers sampling the PureSpect oranges at the China Business Meet Up. “We’ve never been in China before when we had high-Brix fruit available, so it’s great to be able to sample the fruit here,” she says. “The response has been very good, and I think we’ll have some success. We already have a potential customer who wants to try high Brix.”
Sunkist launched a high-Brix orange brand earlier this year with the Premium Sweet label. The major US citrus cooperative showcased the offering at the China Business Meet Up. The Premium Sweet brand has a distinctive black label that stands out on the orange background of the fruit.
The Sunkist brand is well known in China, reflecting its long history in the market, according to a company spokesperson. Sunkist promotes the brand actively in major cities throughout the country, and consumption of oranges continues to grow, the spokesperson notes.
