Glamour, elegance and seduction are words rarely used in relation to a fruit or vegetable, but they represent just some of the brand values emphasised in Pink Lady Europe’s considerable product information. Then again, few apples have a bright pink Mini Clubman car or Miss Germany representing them at trade shows - or indeed a moniker derived from a largely forgotten 1951 novel on naval battle.
John Cripps, after which the Cripps Pink variety is named, read of the original Pink Lady character in Nicholas Monsarrat’s The Cruel Sea on his emigration voyage to Australia. He saw the first of his Golden Delicious and Lady Williams-crossed apples sold under the Pink Lady brand 22 years after Cripps Pink’s inception in 1973. This was to be the start of a considerable journey for the apple, which is now produced in the Americas, South Africa, Australasia and Japan. In addition, the main-season European crop, available from November to May, has put the premium product in pole position in the branded market, with a nine to 10 per cent market share in value terms. Around 3,500 hectares of Pink Lady are grown in Europe, with France holding 52 per cent of European volumes, while Italian producers in South Tyrol account for 42 per cent and growers in Catalonia, Spain, grow six per cent of the European crop.
But the apple’s steady growth in volume, set to hit 100,000 tonnes for the first time this season, has not been without difficulties. The first fruit into the UK all came from Australia and, with total availability being very small, Pink Lady was initially sold by Marks & Spencer. Today, because of its consistency and high sugar content, the apple is also appealing to the cooking market.
However, the fruit’s considerable marketing appeal is also not without its stresses. In 2004, four men in a Pink Lady-sponsored boat were hit by the tail end of Hurricane Alex, which broke the boat in two and causd it to sink off the Irish coast. It was down to an ex-Special Boat Service man to pull the others to safety, before being picked up by a passing banana boat. The incident proved a major PR success in terms of increased coverage - albeit for the wrong reasons.
Recently, concern about premium ranges suffering as consumers trade down and sales are reduced has been rife, but Andy Macdonald, managing director of Pink Lady licence manager Coregeo Ltd, is bullish. “Everyone has been hit by the recession, but we are of the opinion that you have to invest even more to ensure you stay strong long term and maintain the high standards of the brand,” she says. “As long as we keep demand ahead of supply through strong branding work and making the most out of what is an excellent product, then we will be fine. Some growers have said this is their best year ever in terms of quality and quantity.”
The stipulations for a Pink Lady apple, as opposed to a Cripps Pink, are stringent. Packers have to ensure the apple has a section that is at least 40 per cent solid pink, with a brix level between 13-16. The fruit is then tested for the right levels of starch, firmness and size. With a successful brand, consistency in product is as key as the consistent themes - such as the flowing pink heart - which form the marketing campaign.
Philippe Toulemonde, who heads up the Star Fruits group of nurseries and is the master licensor for Pink Lady in Europe, believes branding has been the backbone of the apple’s early success: “It is really important that you have something that you can recognise at once. You need to be able to recognise what you have bought before and enjoyed to enable you to buy it again. A lot of people just recognise the colour and the branding without even knowing the name of the apple. It has really helped form a base for Pink Lady Europe and we continue to push the brand, and the apple, throughout Europe.”
So strong is the Pink Lady brand that a section of the European budget often goes on legal expenses to fend off clones and imitators, while Toulemonde himself admits he chartered a plane from Nîmes to scan the surrounding areas by air, checking there was no one in the region growing the apple illegally.
Pink Lady has often proven a difficult crop for growers. With the season kicking off in November and the 12°C difference needed between day and night temperatures requiring a hotter climate than the UK’s - in fact, Pink Lady’s position as the “champagne apple” is in alignment with the fact that it largely grows in fertile wine-growing regions - some considerable courage in production is needed.
Grower Rémy Foissey, who grows 45,000ha of apples, 13,000ha of which are Pink Lady, near Beaucaire, tells FPJ growing the product is a 24-hour pursuit: “We have to have night-time surveillance in case the temperature drops below 2°C, so an irrigation system is triggered to prevent frost but, in the spring when you are working hard all day, it is very tough to deal with. You have to get up at 3am to come and check on the orchards and make some difficult decisions with such a delicate, fragile crop.”
In 2004, in Washington State, some growers decided to leave Pink Lady harvesting for one further night and frost combined with their irrigation systems to create frozen stalagmites and stalagtites, damaging large amounts of the crop. Following the 200-210 days it takes to grow Pink Lady, such an outcome can be devastating for a business.
Foissey adds: “The trees themselves are very robust and have not been replaced in the 15 years we have been producing. But old trees produce less colour so we are looking to replace some. Really, a seven-year-old tree is in its prime.”
Growers also face challenges in finding labour, with Pink Lady becoming ready for harvest in an intensive seven- to 10-day picking cycle up to two months after various other apple crops. Many temporary workers have by then moved on or returned to countries typically used to source labour, such as Poland. Toulemonde says: “It is difficult to find the right number of people at the right time to pick, with harvesting taking place in November. If you have a day of rain, there is no point picking with such a fragile crop and you waste a day’s labour. Most migrant workers are second-generation immigrants from North Africa, as well as some local labour.”
The same is true of the Les Vergers de Mauguio packhouse, where commercial director Valérie Nicolas manages 65 staff during the Pink Lady, Granny Smith and Braeburn seasons. “Between August and May, we pack around 20,000t of apples, with more than 5,000t of that Pink Lady - all of our 23 growers are within 20km of the packhouse,” she says. “We have to have a minimum colouring of 40 per cent for Pink Lady and then we separate within that to have different levels of colouring. Our packing line, which has 26 cameras, can detect any defects below the surface of the fruit and automatically prevent them from getting through to the packing stage.”
Along with high-quality production levels, it is clear that the future of Pink Lady will rely as much on the product’s brand, which is owned by Apples and Pears Australia Ltd and presided over by Pink Lady Europe, Coregeo UK and Pink Lady America in their various regions. With crop levels high this season, there is a chance to capitalise on plentiful product. Meanwhile, “Pinkmania” is planned with a heavy advertising schedule through November in Europe, and the apple’s romantic image is set to be capitalised on with a 16-country campaign around Valentine’s Day.
Macdonald says both production and marketing are reliant on each other: “We cannot have such a strong brand without strong product. There has been a good amount of rain this year and the right temperatures to make this a bumper year. We have meetings with retailers, in-store tastings, web activities and events planned in the near future. The good thing for us is the retailers want to meet us and to discuss taking the brand forward, as you are offering them a service. At the end of the day, it is a very strong product and it is only going to get stronger.”
FRENCH APPLES BATTLE THROUGH
French apple growers have had a torrid 2009, with existing price pressure added to by promotions on overhanging fruit from the southern hemisphere. Export to the UK is still proving lacklustre, with sterling down 30 per cent on 2008.
French product in the UK is down around 12 per cent this year, largely due to oversupply of Granny Smith, which saw a considerable overhang from the South African season, as well as Braeburn. These varieties have slowly seen an upturn in recent weeks as demand increases across the board, but talks of grower protests are rife and one insider told FPJ that some producers have stored more of their product in an attempt to garner better prices later in the season.
Protests against president Nicolas Sarkozy’s agricultural aid package have also been widespread, with growers saying the €1.65 billion (£1.49bn) proposals do not go far enough.
Weather issues have been few, apart from some rain in the last two weeks in the South. There have been some reports of an imbalance of calcium in Granny Smith, which could cause problems with scald in the New Year, while the Golden Delicious crop in the South East has suffered from being too yellow - however, quality has been largely good.
Peter Davis of Davis (Louth) Ltd tells FPJ: “In the retail market, larger-sized 113 apples and some smaller fruits for bags have been in demand and we have also done some contracts for schools and colleges ourselves. We have noticed that this season we have gone down one size. Last year we were using mainly 138-fruit bushels and this year we have done mainly 150-fruit bushels.
“We have had a lot of competition from Poland this season and one of our retail outlets stopped taking French Royal Gala three weeks ago to switch to Polish, which was a better price. The fruit that we have seen from Poland has indeed been very good, with excellent sugars and pressures. Our office in France reported back to us that there are now some interesting contracts being done with the Middle East, so this may take some pressure off the low prices that the growers are getting back at the moment.
“France is not getting good value whatsoever… [some] growers are not covering their costs at the moment and they have asked for further government aid to help them get through. Some of the farmers were talking about protesting in the French supermarkets because the retail price did not reflect at all the wholesale prices that they were getting back for the fruit.
“France has lost some ground over the past five years. We have seen one of our supermarket clients insist that we supply them with Italian fruit because it was cheaper than French, and now they have changed some varieties from Italy to Poland because there isa price differential again,” adds Davis.
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