At this time of year, although there are imported apples on the shelves, most people have English apples at the top of their public agenda, at least.
Morrisons, The Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Somerfield all featured English apples in their TV promotion campaigns around the beginning of October - if any other supermarket did likewise apologies, I must have missed it - and Marks & Spencer and Waitrose also used English fruit extensively in their not-for-TV promotional work.
Morrisons produced a standalone English apple ad and a podcast featuring growers was prominent on its customer-facing website. Asda has also gone to town with its in-store support and since the start of the season, says Adrian Barlow at English Apples & Pears (EAP), there has been “tremendous backing” from a wide range of supermarket groups.
Sainsbury’s, he tells FPJ, has increased its share by 3.3 per cent to 27.9 per cent in the first couple of months of activity - “an extraordinary performance” from such a high base, says Barlow. He stresses that the EAP collated figures are volume-based, and that there could be a disparity between these and the value figures, due to each retailer’s pricing policy. All of the major supermarket chains bar one have improved their performance to date, including Aldi and Lidl. “The English industry is getting more involved there,” says Barlow. “We cannot afford to miss any opportunities.”
The season for the major varieties has been a little delayed, with Cox seven to 10 days behind schedule depending on location and Gala around a week behind last year’s arrival in the market. Weather issues were the main reason for fruit maturing more slowly than in some other seasons, but dessert apples did manage to steer relatively clear of the frost damage that affected the pear crop around the end of March and beginning of April.
In some ways, admits one grower, the industry has been very fortunate this season. Hail also caused isolated damage, but could have been more of a problem, and the cold summer inhibited growth to the extent that, at the beginning of this quarter, most were expecting a higher than desired level of small sizes. Rain and cold nights in September could also have played havoc with picking, but tractors were able to get into orchards generally speaking and again, the industry stopped well short of its worst-case scenario.
As with other sectors of British horticulture, a lack of pickers has been a significant concern for many growers. “Not only were there insufficient pickers at key times,” says Barlow, “but unquestionably, the output from those pickers declined on previous seasons. There is nothing growers can do about that, and it is crucial that the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme is restored to where it was previously.
“We have to have access to more pickers from outside the EU, although it would appear from recent announcements that is not going to happen. This is a serious problem and it is important that the government understands that first, British growers just do not have enough people to pick their crops and second, growers cannot get people locally to do the job - it is just not going to happen.”
Early season sales have been encouraging and the key customers are up at this point in the season. Discovery, Worcester and Egremont Russet sales have all been “higher than at the same time last year”, according to Barlow.
Discovery, which was assumed to be in danger as the season forerunner after fierce criticism from one retail buyer - backed up by others - was right on form. It suffered from weaker demand last year, but volumes have shot up by 18 per cent in 2008, to 2,290 tonnes. Egremont Russet volumes are static at around 5,000t, but one variety that has reduced in quantity is Spartan which, due to grubbing and replanting of new types in its place, only saw its volume drop by 17 per cent to 1,600t this year.
Surprisingly, despite the increased volume of ‘new’ varieties such as Cameo, Jazz, Kanzi and Rubens, the ‘other apples’ category is not showing any significant uplift. This may well be due to the removal of old minor varieties from production, which flies in the face somewhat of the popular press coverage of heritage apples making a comeback.
Not only was it later to market in any volume, the Cox crop is, as widely expected, around six per cent down on last season, at 41,500t in EAP’s latest figures. However, gradeout has been good and availability of Class I fruit is only three per cent lower year on year.
The Gala crop, on the other hand, is eight per cent up this year, and this represents a lower increase than both was expected and, more importantly, desired. The 28,600t should be enough to keep major customers happy though, says Barlow.
Braeburn has also seen exponential growth on these shores in recent years and volumes are expected to be 12 per cent up again this season, to 9,500t, although there is time for this to change. This figure is well down on the pre-season hopes of growers - some of whom had earmarked a volume of around 11,000t and Barlow suggests that this may well be because a lot of orchards were allowed to produce a bit too heavily last year. “There was bound to be a reaction to that,” he says. “Nonetheless, there is going to be plenty of fruit to get us through April and into early May.”
Prospects for the Bramley crop have recovered dramatically since early predictions that it could fall well short of what was required for the high-profile bicentenary celebrations in early 2009. Volume for the fresh market will be around 23 per cent up on last season, which should stand the trade in good stead when the expected pick-up in demand kicks in.
Although the crop looks set fair, Barlow admits to grave concerns about the market situation at the moment. “Of course, when there is a big movement from imported fruit to English at the beginning of October, you would expect a large amount of promotional activity,” he says. “But promotional activity should not be too deep, as it impacts negatively on returns across the season. And it should be used to generate momentum - any promotions after that should be controlled.
“English apples should not and cannot be caught up with the competition on the high street - there is tremendous investment being made in the industry. They simply must make the returns to enable this to continue.”
CALCUTT’S LESSONS FROM AMERICA
Sarah Calcutt, business development manager at English top-fruit marketer Norman Collett, is the 2008 Nuffield Fruit Scholar and currently in the US as part of her year-long scholarship. Here, she passes on some thoughts from across the Pond.
As I type this, the TV is on and CNN is announcing that Barack Obama will be the first African-American president of the US. He will have his work cut out as there is an enormous social gulf in the US and it is growing wider; there is also a huge class divide associated with food and, as in the UK, it comes from economic, social and educational issues.
In a very basic sense you get more food for less money; that is if you go to a diner or burger bar you will get an enormous portion of food with more fat, sugar and salt, and no fresh vegetables. The quality and nutritional value of restaurant food rises exponentially as you pay more, as accordingly the portion size comes down. Menus increasingly must now contain the calorie content; for instance, Starbucks will tell you what the calorie exchange rate will be if you choose no fat and no sugar options.
Obesity is still more prevalent in the younger population, and marketing and PR managers talk in terms of reaching the consumer with educational materials; but an issue that is beginning to be addressed is the huge deficit in quality, fresh food availability in some areas of the US.
The US was ahead of Europe in its use of the ‘5 a day’ campaign and its message to help people lose weight and improve their health. After 10 years this has finally been realigned to just ‘eat more fruit and veggies’. Research showed that the original message was found to be a cause of anxiety, encouraging feelings of failure, and people were giving up trying as they could neither always meet the target of five portions nor work out what exactly was a portion.
We have the same issue in the UK. An apple or a pear is fine, but there is a plethora of different guidelines as to what makes a portion of anything else.
One effect of the credit crunch in the US is that category managers have seen a drop in the volume of produce sold in relation to processed and canned goods. The national per household consumption of apples is still only an average of 5lb a year and sadly this appears to be dropping, not rising. The national average working week in the US is 45 hours, with 15 days of holiday per year - nobody has time to cook, neither do young people have the skills.
Marketing managers are working closely with their customers to develop campaigns best suited to different groups of customers. Quality retailers such as Wegmans, on the East Coast, are addressing this through initiatives like ‘take it or make it’, where you can either buy dinner as a deli takeout, or you can take the recipe and the shopping list and learn how to make the dish for yourself.
The ‘grapple’ is a recent addition to produce marketing for younger consumers - Gala or Fuji apples that have been dipped in grape juice to alter their flavour and aroma. These have enjoyed great success in their first season, twinned with a soccer ball giveaway. Every retailer has a partnership with Disney or another cartoon series to brand produce to appeal to the latest popular cartoon beloved by the smaller shopper, exercising ‘pester power’.
For the older consumer, more affluent areas are really driving forward a local food message. There is enormous pride in ‘brand USA’ and many cars now carry a sticker urging you to buy American goods and keep your wealth at home. Areas like Portland are developing regional purchasing guidelines, looking to retailers and public sector procurement officers to focus on a 200 mile radius of the city for their procurement of all goods. Consumers are encouraged to choose just three luxury items that they cannot live without that can come from outside the US. This covers seasonal eating, healthy eating, environmental sustainability, low carbon foodprint, brand USA and keeping your wealth at home; all messages I have seen repeated throughout the country.
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