The UK is a notoriously discerning market demanding the very best. While it may sometimes be hard to meet this criteria, the rewards for supplying it are substantial. That’s the view of leading Californian table grape producers.
According to the California Table Grape Commission (CTGC), Golden State grape shipments to the UK have increased a significant 15 per cent since 1999. The UK market currently imports more than 10,000 tonnes during the season and with a 2004/05 crop estimate of 85m 19lb cartons, Californian grape suppliers are understandably eager to consolidate their positions in the market.
Crimson Seedless and Thompson Seedless grape are the main grape varieties shipped to the UK but other popular varieties include Flame Seedless, Perlette, Autumn Royal and Red Globe.
The majority of California’s larger grape producers are located in the southern area of the state, primarily in Delano and Bakersfield. “There’s so much competition to supply the UK, not just from other Californian table grape growers but other world producers,” says Sunview Marketing International’s Scott Boyajian. “Whether we ship there depends on European supplies as well as weather conditions and the size of the Californian crop.”
Sunview exports Thompson Seedless and Crimson Seedless to Tesco and Morrisons/Safeway towards the end of the year. “The window for California is generally when Greece and Spain wind down their supplies and we get in before the southern hemisphere,” Boyajian says, adding that while the UK has always been a high quality market, in recent years, there’s been a stronger emphasis on food safety and regulatory issues.
David Marguleas, senior vice president of Sun World, claims that the company’s Superior Seedless™ brand is very popular in the UK and that some of its other varieties are also gaining interest.
“Initial shipments of our Midnight Beauty brand™, an early-ripening black seedless grape, have been well received and for the last few seasons these have been exported from our vineyards in California,” Marguleas explains.
Sun World’s three South African licensees are also eyeing the UK market and, in January, Midnight Beauty™ grapes were sent to the UK from young plantings in the Orange River and Western Cape districts.
Marguleas notes that the first sizeable commercial crop will be available in January. “We expect that Midnight Beauty™, along with Sable Seedless™ - another popular mid-season black seedless grape - will perform quite well in quality-oriented markets.”
Due to the length of time it takes to ship grapes to the UK market, Marguleas says Sun World’s licensees often supply the UK with grapes, rather than fruit being taken from its Californian vineyards.
Meanwhile, John Pandol of Pandol Bros feels that the UK market is highly attractive - provided that shippers have the quantities to supply it. “The UK is a high service, high price market and that’s the attraction but you need to jump through lots of hoops to ship there,” he claims. “The market is concentrated in a few retailer hands and it’s rare that you see that level of concentration and pickiness in other markets.”
Pandol believes that some shippers can be reluctant to ship to the UK because of stringent retailer demands. In addition, if a consignment is rejected, the fact that it takes more than 20 days to seafreight grapes to the UK from California means that it’s too far to bring the product back.
“Due to the high demands of buyers, the cost of non-delivery can be huge and if you’re only making four deliveries and one is rejected, that’s 25 per cent of sales lost,” Pandol says.
Therefore, many marketers say that it is only the larger players that can afford to take that sort of risk.
While the UK is a mature market as far as year-round availability of grapes is concerned, the CTGC believes there are opportunities for additional growth.
“One of the ways in which additional growth could be developed is by expanding the amount of grape varieties and colours exported to the UK,” says Susan Day, director of marketing for the CTGC. “UK retailers primarily import limited different varieties of red and white grapes and don’t carry many black grapes.”
Day further notes that according to recent research, UK consumers are mainly unaware of the origins of grapes they purchase. However, 49 per cent of consumers polled perceive California grapes to be premium, high quality grapes. Logically therefore, if greater emphasis was placed on promoting Californian grapes, this could boost sales in the future, marketers believe.
The UK is a high volume grape market and imports product from more than 25 different countries each year. With shipments of fresh grapes from so many different countries, the CTGC acknowledges that it can be difficult to know when exactly Californian grapes will be on the retail shelves, therefore planning promotions can be very challenging.
However, the Commission conducts a range of consumer promotions including in-store samplings. “The main focus of these promotions is to increase consumer awareness of the availability of California grapes during the key periods and to prompt purchase through consumer trials,” Day says.
In terms of competition, growing supplies from the southern hemisphere grape-producing countries is posing more of a threat to Californian grape exports, particularly during the late season. The large European supply of fresh grapes available during the summer months, in particular from Spain, also has a huge part to play in how many volumes California decides to ship.
However, many shippers believe that they are playing for high stakes when supplying the UK but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.
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