Backed by what looks to be an plentiful crop of high-quality fruit, the Washington Apple Commission (WAC) is seeking to ramp up sales in the Chinese market in 2016/17.
China, together with Hong Kong, imported around 2m cartons of Washington apples in 2015/16, but this season WAC is hopeful of boosting volumes by 50 per cent, according to international marketing director Rebecca Lyons.
“Volumes could increase to 3m boxes this year,” Lyons told Asiafruit. “We have a good-quality crop and our production of Gala is up. Our Gala sizing is running a bit larger since we’ve had optimum growing conditions, but we should have good supplies across the size range.”
WAC promotions in China will target both trade and consumer this season, Lyons explained, with e-commerce channels playing a key role.
“Washington apples lend themselves to e-commerce channels because they’re not as highly perishable as other fruits,” Lyons pointed out. “The safety and consistency of US product is one of our strengths here, particularly as online consumers cannot pick their own fruit.”
WAC is once again partnering with Alibaba Group's Tmall shopping platform for its Global Shopping Festival following last year's successful round of promotions. The promotion culminates with the Singles Day 24-hour shopping spree on 11 November.
As well as B2C e-commerce channels, WAC is tapping into emerging B2B platforms this year. “We’re running some B2B promotions with Fruta Cloud –this is a good channel for trade education, and an opportunity to tell the Washington apple story,” explained Lyons. “We see really good potential to expand our presence beyond the first-tier markets in China to second-, third- and fourth-tier cities.”
India still key
India, the largest offshore market for Washington apples in 2014/15 at 5.5m cartons, fell off almost 56 per cent to 2.4m cartons last year. The weakness of the Indian rupee versus the US dollar was a key factor in the decline, but WAC remains committed to growing its presence there. “India is second only to Mexico in terms of our investment in export markets,” Lyons told Asiafruit.
Prospects are also looking up for this season’s WAC campaign in India, and reports of a shortfall in India’s domestic apple supplies could result in bigger opportunities in 2017, she acknowledged. “We tend to come in after the first of the year when the domestic crop of fresh apples is out of the market. We could see additional opportunities earlier this year due to the shorter domestic crop,” said Lyons.
While India is still predominantly a Red Delicious market, WAC is working to expand its varietal profile in the market, mirroring trends in the state’s own production.
“Red Delicious still makes up around half of our overall exports, but it’s only 25 per cent of the total crop this year,” said Lyons. “There’s been a shift in what we’re growing. Galas are now number two, and could soon surpass Red Delicious as a percentage of the total crop.”
Indeed, there is bigger export push behind Washington Gala in several Asian export markets this year, not least Vietnam. “Vietnam is a growing market for us, and it took almost 1m cartons last year,” noted Lyons. “It’s a heavy Gala customer.”
Emerging markets in the Greater Mekong such as Myanmar and Cambodia will also form a bigger focus for WAC promotional activities this year. “We’ve already established a presence in Cambodia, working with modern retailers,” Lyons said. “We follow retail– and we see more [modern] retail investment in Myanmar and Cambodia, which we’re responding to.”
