There is enormous growth potential in the apple processing sector, with growers having the chance to earn similar returns as they do through retail, one leading supplier has claimed.
VOG Products director Klaus Gasser told this week’s Prognosfruit conference that the rise of smoothies, bagged fruit and other fresh snacks is driving the processing sector to new heights – and that is also good news for growers.
“We pay handsomely for our raw apples,” he said. “Our growth potential is enormous, which is why we believe that the price for processed will align more and more with fresh apples. You can already see this in pineapples, where prices are about the same for processing as for fresh.”
Citing a statistic that 10 per cent of apples are not harvested “because it’s not cost-effective to do so”, Gasser said the processing market provided a solution.
His view was backed up by Georg Theiner of Fructus, who said that “finished products will be more similar to fresh” in future, which means that only class I fruit is likely to be considered in the long term.
Theiner also said the processing industry could do more to get on board with issues such as sustainability and ethics, which are important to consumers. This will provide the best operators with a competitive advantage, he added.
