Tesco has been named as this year’s South African Stone Fruit Retailer of the Year for its performance in the stonefruit category during the 2014/15 season.
It is the second successive year the supermarket has won the annual award, which is presented by South African stonefruit and topfruit industry body Hortgro in order to highlight commitment to, and results in, the category in the British retail arena.
Jacques Du Preez, general manager for trade and markets at Hortgro, presented the award to Tesco stonefruit buyer Henry Maulik at the retailer’s head office in Cheshunt, UK.
“Tesco has excelled in stonefruit this year, particularly during the winter season when British consumers are less used to picking up fruit such as plums, peaches and nectarines,” Du Preez commented.
“It has identified the opportunity to expand the category and worked with our growers to highlight to its customers the great eating quality, exciting varieties and positive socio-economic impact of buying fruit available at this time of the year.”
He added: “Tesco has worked with the stonefruit campaign to communicate to shoppers - with South African identification on packs of fruit, information booklets in packs and online activity.
“This collaborative approach has led to impressive development in stonefruit for yet another year. I am really pleased to recognise their achievements in this category with this award.”
According to Hortgro, volumes of plums, peaches and nectarines exported from South Africa to the UK in 2014/15 were up by 40 per cent, 23 per cent and 32 per cent respectively compared with last season.
