There is little doubt that berries are turning out to be something of a star-performer in the fruit category, even in a season which most producers are describing as mixed. According to the latest TNS data, berries are continuing to increase in value, year-on-year, with strawberries rising 13 per cent over the 52 weeks ending September 11, 2005, up from £269 million to £305m. Meanwhile, over the same period, raspberries rose 22 per cent, up from £61m to £74m.

Part of this growth is being driven by the segmentation in the retail offer, says Adam Olins, md of BerryWorld. “We’re seeing a much broader offer, with things like Taste the Difference and Finest fruit - there’s a lot more fruit on the shelves.” He says while the standard berry offer is fairly static, the growth is coming from that retail segmentation.

Improved promotion has also been a help, he says, particularly on raspberries: “The various promotions in the supermarkets were better than the year before, there were deeper price cuts and all the fruit was sold.”

Nick Marston, md of KG Fruits, agrees, saying the retailers are beginning to spot the potential for berries outside of the ever-popular strawberry. “On raspberries, the multiple retailers promoted them well and got behind them. Blackberries also had increased support this year, and they’re now perceived as something customers want.”

This year’s season was hampered by a late start, particularly on strawberries. While in June demand was strong compared with the lesser volumes, this position was reversed come July, when production came into full swing, leading to an excess of fruit on the market.

Marston says: “As ever with a late season we had substantial volumes in July and ended up in oversupply - there was just too much product and that led to poor prices on the wholesale markets.”

The delayed start carried over into the everbearer season, but the problems were less marked, he says. “We didn’t have the peaks of July and production was steady. August went well, with strong produce and good demand leading to good prices.”

September and October saw excellent demand in line with supply, and KG themselves experiences good growth in volumes. “Our volumes have been double the previous year. Since mid-September, they’ve been double and last week it was treble the previous year. It’s been a very good autumn,” Marston adds.

“The end result is that we’ll end the year with higher production and higher values, so a good result overall.” However he acknowledges that the season will have been better for some growers than others.

Olins agrees the autumn was an improvement and says, overall, the season has proved to be more of a success than last year, although last year was generally considered to be poor.

He attributes the lacklustre performance over the last two years to the delayed starts. “We haven’t had an early season for two years. Early seasons are invariably better. You’ll always end the season at the same time, and having it early irons out any peaks you might get.”

While the late start in strawberries caused headaches, the raspberry season does not seem to have suffered unduly from the delays. Olins says: “Raspberries were better than last year, although there was a lower yield.” The lesser volume meant there was no peak in production and fruit volumes also continued much later into the season than normal. Marston adds: “Raspberries went extremely well - the glut of last year wasn’t repeated and it was good quality product. We also saw a modest inflation on price, which is better than deflation.” Blackberries were also strong performers, backed by the increased retailer support and Olins says the fruit is now showing some of the most significant growth within the category.

So, while the berry season may well have been mixed, the sales growth, combined with strong retail support are certainly providing encouraging signs for the future. l

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