Fresh sales of Bramley hit unprecedented levels in September and October, driven partly by the introduction of a new identification sticker on fruit. But the rate of sale has prompted fears that the end of the season could be brought forward and create a gap in supply in the summer of 2008.
Sales from August 1 to November 18 were 15.8 per cent up year on year, but August was a slow month and, more remarkably, September and October saw a 24 per cent uplift. “We finished selling last year’s crop before the end of August,” said Bramley Campaign group chairman Adrian Barlow, “whereas last year we were still selling beyond August. However, a reaction to the dreadful summer weather-wise, when Bramley sales were buoyant from May to July, saw a slowdown in August, perhaps also due to consumers looking to berries and stonefruit as the summer weather appeared briefly.”
On November 1, there were 17,000 tonnes of fruit left in store, just over 500t less than at the same time last year. “If we continue to see the same rate of sale, we are going to see shortages next year, starting in June,” said Barlow. “The only fallback is to reduce the size of the Class I specifications from 85mm to 80mm, which some retailers have already done. The others really need to follow.”
The new Bramley label has acted as a call to arms for consumers who may otherwise have misjudged, or just missed Bramley altogether, he added. “We were concerned that a lot of people who did not know Bramley were picking it up and treating it as a dessert apple, or simply didn’t realise it was a culinary variety. The disadvantages that labels can bring come with extra cost, plus the problems that can occur with fruit moved from retail into processing, but the results of better identification in-store have more than mitigated for that.”
Grower Ian Mitchell said that the market is crying out for some “enlightened marketing” over the next few months. “Suppliers and retailers will have to be a bit more creative. We don’t want the retailers or the processors to go short. To alter your marketing programme sometimes goes against business principles; a sale is a sale after all, whenever you make it. But it is important that the industry does not go blundering on until it is forced to a grinding halt.
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