The French apple industry faces a considerable challenge to increase sales in the UK.
France’s biggest apple export destination imports around nine per cent of the country’s annual crop, but the resurgence of British apples, added to currency and input cost concerns, has hit French apple exporters hard.
In a round table meeting organised by Eurofruit Magazine at Earls Court, large suppliers including Worldwide Fruit, Richard Hochfeld and Sydney Hart met with Tesco and Musgrave Retail Partners, among others, to discuss addressing the challenges that have arisen in the French apple trade.
With strong competition from UK apples at the start of the French season, from other European sources during mid-season and from southern hemisphere suppliers later, France has seen the value of its apple sales to the UK decline from more than €130 million in 2004/05 to just over €107m in 2009/10, although exported volumes to the UK have fallen from 155,481 tonnes to 138,253 tonnes over the same period.
Its market share has remained stable at around 20 per cent, but pressure on returns continues to grow.
Tesco believes price competition has returned to the forefront of most consumers’ thinking.
Senior buying manager David Croxson told the panel: “I think what the consumer is looking for at the moment is good value for money on shelf, and what’s very important in our business is to make sure week in, week out that we have a competitively priced offer to the customer. What we’ve seen certainly in our business over the last few years is that our customers have moved from loose into pre-pack.”
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