The exotics category has suffered extensively in the last year with supplies taking a hit in various countries and the trade off between realistic returns and what shoppers are prepared to pay proving difficult to align.
Kantar Worldpanel data puts the category’s market value, excluding prepared products, at £309 million. This represents a year-on-year decline of 2.1 per cent, a slight improvement on the 2.7 per cent fall registered in November’s data.
In the intervening period, all of the major retailers and discounters have remained static apart from the two largest in the category. Tesco has dropped back from an overtrade of 30.1 per cent - against a 27.2 per cent share of total grocery - for the 52 weeks to 28 November 2010 to 29.7 per cent now, while Sainsbury’s has picked up from 18.7 per cent to 19 per cent over the period. Both still overtrade, as do Morrisons and Waitrose, but Asda is 3.4 percentage points down on its overall share.
With less than heartening figures in black and white, it’s clear the retailers will have to innovate to draw people back to a category that is losing out on penetration and purchasing frequency.
The success of Del Monte’s Naked Fruit range has offered an extra avenue for exotic produce in the fresh-cut market, with the Naked Mango the latest product to hit shelves.
Within the whole exotics fruit category promotions on melons in particular have tightened supplies in recent weeks.
“The market was very, very tough a few weeks ago,” says Jay Thakrar of Shipley Exotics on Western International Market. “Honeydew, yellow melons and watermelons were all really hard to get hold of and it’s still a very strong market, although its eased off slightly. The supermarkets had yellow melons on special offer and when that happens, we just dry out. Prices were at 1300-1400p a box for 7s, 8s and 9s. It’s down to 800p now for Brazilian fruit.”
Elsewhere, supplies have been easy to come by on most lines. Dragonfruit supplies from Thailand by air have been “constant” with 4s, 5s and 6s making around 1100p, while Vietnamese product has been coming in via seafreight at 400p for 5s and 6s.
Kenyan and Israeli passionfruit have been plentiful, with the latter providing larger fruit at 600-650p for 2kg on New Spitalfields. Thakrar adds: “We are getting 6kg jumbo packs for 1200-1300p from Kenya and Uganda, which works out much, much cheaper than the Brazilian stuff that is 650p for 1.8kg.”
The mango market is suffering from oversupply, with Peruvian Kent product of “very mixed quality” making anywhere between 60p and 500p for 7s, 8s and 9s. Recent allegations levelled at Peruvian mango suppliers in a report by Dutch research organisation SOMO has brought unflattering headlines for a product fast becoming a commodity.
Kiwifruit too has become a fruit that is niche only in name. Supplies from New Zealand are said to be on track with a strong season predicted by Zespri. Growers in Gisborne began picking Zespri Gold last week and its supply chain manager Sally Gardiner has forecast a similar season to last year, with around 100 million trays of kiwifruit set for export.
“Growing conditions have been fantastic, with more rainfall and higher temperatures on average compared to last season and we are expecting a great crop as a result,” says Gardiner.
“We also face the challenge of Psa and as an industry we are working together as a cohesive and focused team, alongside the government, to address it. While monitoring and hygiene practices throughout the industry have changed as a result of Psa, the number of orchards impacted still represents less than two per cent of the industry and customers will not see any impact on sales volumes in our overseas markets this year.”
Pineapples have been plentiful, with Ghana adding to problems of “overproduction” in Costa Rica.
Thakrar believes the exotics category as a whole has been damaged by inflation and he hopes that creativity and innovation will be able to turn the category around. “At the end of the day, the changes in weather, fuel and inflation have all driven up the price,” he admits. “Consumers are not going to buy a dragonfruit that was £2 two years ago and is now £4; it’s not good for the industry and it’s not good for the health of the nation.
“There’s still a good variation of supply if people are willing to pay the right money. Chefs, for example, are very interested in exotics and hopefully that will have a knock-on effect.”
SCOTT FARMS UK SET TO MAKE SWEET POTATOES MAINSTREAM
A six-figure promotional campaign for sweet potatoes is in the making, with Scott Farms UK leading the push. Anna Sbuttoni talks to managing director Stan Smith about the 12-month plan.
Why has Scott Farms UK come up with a campaign for sweet potatoes?
Scott Farms UK is the subsidiary of Scott Farms Inc, a fourth-generation family business based in North Carolina that grows and exports sweet potatoes. The US-based business produces the seed, propagates and grows sweet potatoes on 2,000 acres, which are then hand picked and matured for six weeks before being shipped.
Plantings in North Carolina last year will mean that for the first time, sweet potato volumes from the region are expected to exceed 50,000 tonnes. To give you an idea of the scale, Scott Farms UK imports and distributes more than 20,000t a year so we handle more than half of the exports from North Carolina.
The business is in its fifth year of operations and so far, we have relied to some extent on the promotion of sweet potatoes in the national and lifestyle media and we have gained from them being in vogue. They are used regularly by celebrity chefs and there is already an awareness of their nutritional benefits and virtually zero fat content.
But we know that we cannot rely on this in the long term so this is why we are doing what we are doing. The campaign is going to be based on educating consumers about the versatility and convenience of sweet potatoes, which are very hard-working vegetables. You can have them on the table in 10 minutes.
I use the word vegetables, but some supermarkets put sweet potatoes in the potato category and others put it in with exotics. We want shoppers to see them as a vegetable and ultimately, ask for Scott Farms’ sweet potatoes by name. Our aim is to make sweet potatoes absolutely mainstream and for them to be displayed prominently in all supermarkets, as well as on every menu.
How is the UK market for sweet potatoes shaping up?
We expect that the growth will continue to accelerate but through the campaign, we are ensuring that it will. When we started out, I predicted that we would enjoy growth for three years and then start to plateau but it is five years in and we are not seeing any signs of a slowdown. To make sure that we don’t, we have committed to a substantial investment for a minimum of 12 months with our chosen PR company, Liquid.
So far, the UK market has shaped up very well and we have seen considerable growth in consumption of sweet potatoes. If you look at our own operations, we imported 2,000t in the first year and five years on, we are up to 20,000t. That speaks for itself and we have been able to extend supply and fill gaps in the market, which accounts for part of the growth.
When are North Carolina sweet potatoes available?
Our season starts at the end of August or beginning of September and we can supply 12 months from then. The region has favourable conditions and sandy loam soils, so it’s a prolific combination. At the same time, it is a long way and we are subjected to the swings and roundabouts of costs that are beyond our control so there are challenges.
Covington is the main variety that we supply but at all times we are looking at what we can do.
What is your background?
I have had a long career in senior management. I used to be commercial director at British & Brazilian before moving to Richard Hochfeld and then Geest. I left London in 1982 and moved to Evesham, where I worked at the company that much later became Bomfords. I started my own business in 1984, named Harris & Smith Produce Sales, which I then sold to Grower Marketing Services before starting up Fast Fresh Distribution.
I left the produce industry in 1994 to move into corporate and commercial finance, but I met the Scott family five years ago when they were looking to set up a UK business and I decided to come back to the produce business. At the time, I had never eaten sweet potato but I have educated myself very quickly and now I have a genuine passion for the product.
No comments yet