More frequent purchases and a slight increase in price are helping drive sales growth in the citrus category at present.
In the past 12 months shoppers averaged 19 trips, versus 18.6 in the year before. Overall 366,700 tonnes of citrus were sold in Great Britain, according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel.
Valued at £627.3 million, the citrus market experienced value growth of 2.6 per cent and a volume growth of 1.2 per cent. The average price per kilo was £1.71, which is 3p more than a year ago.
But this also coincided with a loss of shoppers from the category, and a drop in volume deals in favour of temporary price reductions.
Martin Dunnett, trading director at Capespan, believes the current market looks positive for the sector. “It’s encouraging, especially given last year’s situation where there was a big crop of Spanish citrus and prices were slightly deflated, whereas this year it’s a bit more stabilised,” he says. New late-season orange varieties like Navel, Powell and Chislett Navel are stimulating interest in the category and extending the premium offer for longer. “If you look at the orange price in the last six months, you’ve got a deflated price of two per cent per kilo, but the volume has increased by over three per cent, so the ongoing trend is to acquire more and more easy peelers, whereas the orange price has dropped by two per cent because of continual promotional activity that is required to drive the orange category. And that has actually been effective because volumes have grown, albeit at a lower price.”
What is clear, says Dunnett, is that “easy peel is everything”. “There have been increases in late-season availability in high-value clementines with a development of ClemenGold from South Africa and Spanish Nadorcott.”
Juan Bautista Juan Gimeno, MD of Citricos Valencianos, says cold snaps have been an issue for Spanish supply. “In the affected areas it might be that the trees have to be cut down in order to bloom again,” he reveals. “It’s unlikely that the next crop will reach the same volumes as the current one. For that reason, there is bound to be a decrease in production, but it’s too early to say to what extent.”
The Spanish season is well under way with varieties such as Ortanique, Nadorcott and Lane Late, Juan Gimeno reports, and in the next few weeks Valencia Late and Navel Powell will be available.
“The market is quite stable at the moment - there is no increase in demand which means there is little activity in the fields and warehouses. Also, as it gets warmer, there is less demand for citrus in favour of strawberries and stonefruit.”
Juan Gimeno adds that the UK market is showing increased interest in Sanguinelli, a variety which produces red juice due to its pigmentation.
In response to current market trends, Dunnett expects retailers to continue pushing the boundaries. “I think as ever they’ll be looking to extend the seasons, driving the higher end of the market, through Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference for example. They will position the premium varieties in the correct category, tailoring their offering to the customers’ requirements on a variety-to-variety basis.”
Another factor that has contributed to the positive sales figures is the slightly stronger pound. “We’re hopefully through the worst of our unfavourable exchange rate, which should help stabilise the offer in terms of inflation driven by exchange rates,” he says.
As far as South American suppliers are concerned, the UK remains an appealing market, albeit a demanding one in terms of quality, says Marcelo Ortiz of Campo Verde in Argentina.
“A lot of work has gone into conquering this market given that all commercial activity is achieved through supermarkets who demand high quality standards,” he says. “The crop this year is a bit delayed due to drought in Argentina, plus there are low prices and demand from the Russian and European markets.” -
BACK OF THE NET FOR CITRUS
A new machine is promising to virtually eliminate citrus waste from packing operations.
Tom Bonnett finds out more
The arrival of a unique, fully-automated machine that can pack a net of citrus into a tray, crate or carton every second, is being hailed as an industry “game changer” by its manufacturers.
The FlexaPac came into being after one of the UK’s leading importers and packers of fruits approached manufacturer Pacepacker Services asking them to build a machine that would speed up processing but cut down on waste.
The technology scraps the labour-intensive approach of loading netted products into crates, trays and cartons by hand via a rotary table.
Scrapping the rotary system almost eliminates waste from packers dropping fruit or bruising it when it’s put in a tray, which can lead to hefty penalties from retailers, according to the manufacturer.
Instead, two parallel conveyor belts transport the bags of fruit from the net packing machine onto FlexaPac’s set of landing platforms.
Once the correct quantity of netted product has been recognised by the system, the net is pushed onto a set of lowering plates, which smoothly lower the product into the waiting tray below.
The system uses a combination of touch screen, PLC and servo systems and enables storage of many recipes for different product configurations. It comes with intelligent options such as an email alert system for when production capability is not being achieved through low input of trays or packs and production status snapshots.
Pacepacker Services’ business development manager Paul Wilkinson said: “The patented FlexaPac technology is completely different from anything else on the market, and while it has been designed to automate and overcome the issues relating to the packing of netted fruit it also offers manufacturers of other netted goods such as nuts, plant bulbs, onions and cheeses, a fast and waste-efficient automated packing option.
“The FlexaPac has the option of being fed via one or two netting machines and can be interlocked into an existing line to offer a fully integrated turnkey system - a first for netted fruit packing.”
Andy Brooks, general manager of packaging supplier Verti-Pack, said: “FlexaPac is the first system we’ve come across to successfully automate the tray loading process.”
Trefor Mason, who approached Pacepacker on behalf of the fruit importer and packer, added: “We are delighted with Pacepacker’s FlexaPac solution; it is the missing link in the fast and efficient packing of netted citrus fruits. Not only will this machine increase throughput, it should eliminate waste and reduce labour by 85 per cent for my client. All in all, it’s an excellent solution.” -
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