Oppy has announced a new grape programme that builds on its exclusive partnership with Ocean Spray, the agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 farmer families.
The fruit comes from the Southern Hemisphere, which expands Oppy’s footprint, offering retailers a 12-month consumer brand for the grape category from Peru, Chile and Brazil as well as South Africa, Mexico and California.
Oppy’s overall programme is balanced across several global growing regions and a wide range of proprietary varieties, with an emphasis on 'high-quality, consistency and excellent flavour'.
“Oppy’s grape programme continues to evolve in exciting ways to meet the market demand,” Oppy’s director of import grapes and stonefruit Bill Poulos. “Our programme is incredibly varied and comprises a mixture of new, exciting varieties that help attract new consumers, as well as tried and trusted favourites that are always a hit.
'Now offered under the immediately familiar and top-quality Ocean Spray brand, our customers can truly refresh and re-energise their grape category,' he added.
The group noted that import grapes continued to deliver healthy results, with 2020 volumes increasing by 6 per cent over 2019 in their January-May season, despite overall unpredictability across markets.
Since the US is the top market by volume for grapes from Peru, Oppy will also offer its first ever organic Fair Trade Certified green and red seedless grapes, in keeping with growing consumer demand for produce that helps communities as well as the environment.
Earlier this year, Oppy further developed its grape offerings by becoming the first ever importer of the organic green seedless Arra 15 variety from Peru, continuing to chart new avenues of growth for the category.
