Berry Gardens has predicted improvement in the weather and the signing of a new deal with breeder Driscoll’s will bring a more positive second half of the season.
In its annual press conference at Fruit Focus on Wednesday, the soft-fruit marketer said the past four weeks had seen a 4.7 per cent dip in sales due to the weather.
In the same period last year, volumes sold increased by six per cent, but Berry Gardens’ MD Nick Marston admitted this year’s season has been “the most volatile I can ever recall.” He added: “This season has run two weeks later than 2011 and an abundance of berries in recent weeks, coupled with lower consumer demand from the weather, has resulted in a massive deflation of selling prices and net returns.”
With June the wettest on record in over 100 years, and sunlight hours at 60 per cent of the average from the last 20 years, Berry Gardens called covers and greenhouses “a godsend”.
With 85 per cent of the UK crop covered, chairman Paul Kelsey is now hoping the good weather from the last week will create a stable period in the second half of the season. “We are hopeful of meeting production targets this season. We grew our turnover by 13.5 per cent in 2011. If we can get some sun, our import business and third-quarter harvest should carry us through.”
At Fruit Focus Berry Gardens also announced it had concluded a new commercial agreement with US breeder Driscoll’s that “clarifies both parties’ strategic approach to the UK market and allows Berry Gardens and Driscoll’s to undertake longer-term planning of our respective businesses.” The deal could see branded UK strawberries appearing on US shelves.
Kelsey believes Driscoll’s varietal expertise has helped Berry Gardens bring exciting varieties to the market. “Driscoll’s Genetics, based here at East Malling, is already a worthy investment, as we are launching the first Junebearing strawberry, Driscoll’s Diamond, this spring,” he said, adding the variety’s great yield potential has led to a second Junebearing selection to be commercialised, which will hit the market soon.
Meanwhile Marston hopes a £1.3 million expansion of Berry Gardens’ packaging facility in Linton and the Olympic buzz can inject new life into this soft-fruit season. “There’s no reason the Olympics can’t raise sales and optimism for berries like the Jubilee.”
