It is fair to say that change isn’t always something dealt with ever so well in the UK fresh produce industry. It is a trade built on historically rich and reliable foundations and, in a business that demands complete concentration hour-by-hour in long days from the majority of its employees, a lack of foresight or willingness towards widespread shift is understandable.
However, the way forward for the grape category could lie in a widespread move towards punnets. During various discussions with key grape players in recent months, the value of presenting grapes this way has come up time and again.
The versatility and attractive nature of displaying grapes in punnets has drawn in existing and new customers to the category. Moreover, in a marketplace where consumers are seemingly demanding more sanitised products all but untouched by the human hand - traditionally a more American style of thinking - punnets provide a more appealing option to certain customers. “There’s also the display benefits,” comments one insider. “If there’s some damage to a loose bunch of grapes, it looks far worse than one bad punnet of fruit.
“There’s so many options,” he continues. “Not only can you mix different-coloured grapes, but in the future I can see different sizings and varieties being more and more important. There’s incredible potential in both the product and labelling opportunities.”
So why hasn’t this already come to pass right through from supermarkets to retail markets and greengrocers? “Infrastructure,” remarks one source. “The market wants it and consumers want it because punnets are easier to take home but one of the limiting troubles is that packing in punnets at source is expensive. At the moment, retails have allowed some growers to re-invest but in terms of labour and equipment it is a huge job.”
Perhaps still one for the future then, but it seems a likely direction for the sector and segmentation by colour, variety and size looks to be a certainty in the not too distant future.
In terms of supply, it has been a stable few months in the category. Early Sweet kicked off the Israeli grape season well with high brix levels of 15-17 before Superior hit international markets from mid-June to mid-August. Thompson Seedless then ran from mid-July to mid-September and Red Globe from July until mid-September in an unremarkable Israeli season. Egyptian growers also enjoyed an uninterrupted season.
There was no airfreight, which could have been lucrative to growers, but one source said: “Egypt was rewarded for stabilising a rocky market created by problems in Chile and India. Their volumes continue to grow, as does their infrastructure, and there is a feeling in the market at the moment that if you want good product, you’re really going to have to pay good money for it.”
However, in Spain more than 60 per cent of fruit producers in Murcia were affected by heavy hailstone storms that hit the south-east of the country in late August. Grape growers were among the most affected by the downpours, with more than 30 per cent of the region’s grape sector said to have suffered “serious” damage to their crops.
In Greece, growers have overcome the economic crisis that has seen considerable tax increases and the season looks positive. Further ahead, the Namibian season, due to start in late November or early December, could prove a bumper year. A welcome relief for importers who will have to deal with around 10 per cent less Brazilian fruit after 500 hectares of vines were taken out of production.
On retail shelves, sales of white grapes were 18 per cent down during the quarter, with Crimson up 22 per cent. Inflation in the category has largely been driven by retail value rather than volume growth.
Annual demand has slipped five per cent in the last 10 years but expenditure is up 10 per cent over the same time period, according to one source.
Upward movement from key £1.99/kg and 99p/lb price points have affected the popularity of the product as costs have taken the price tickets out of some consumers’ reach.
Ultimately, the future for grapes could be largely dictated by currency rates and the continuing strength of domestic markets in Brazil and India, but there’s little doubt that some tweaks need to be made if significant sales growth is to be restored in the longer term.
ITALIAN GRAPES BACK ON TOP FORM
Italian production of table grapes is concentrated in the southern region of Apulia, where growers and exporters are working to boost exports to the UK as well as adapt their offer to open up new markets. Anna Sbuttoni caught up with one of the area’s leading grape exporters, Peviani Spa.
Italian growers and exporters are well known for their distinctive grape offer, which has long featured predominantly seeded varieties Italia, Victoria, Red Globe and Palieri. Apulia hosts 65 per cent of Italian grape production, which comes on stream in June following early production in Sicily and stretches until December, taking in one of the most competitive and well supplied periods in the grape calendar.
This season is expected to be much improved on last year, when the summer saw wet weather combine with the fluctuating exchange rate and the gauntlet presented by a particularly cut-throat period in the grape market to create one of the toughest recent seasons that Italian grape players have seen.
Italy produces around 1.3 million tonnes of grapes each year, of which only three to four per cent is made up of seedless varieties but this is a sub-category that is growing year on year.
Around 15-20 per cent of seedless volumes are expected to be earmarked for the UK, while sendings of seeded varieties will be lower.
The UK market is most receptive to seedless varieties such as Sugraone, Thompson and Crimson, but it is also keen on innovation and a number of Italian firms have been sampling new varieties in the UK this year.
Gino Peviani from Peviani Spa insists that fruit quality has been much better than it was last year and claims that it is a “decidedly good season”.
The Apulia-based firm swung into action towards the end of July. “This year, the weather has been magnificent and we have had no significant pests or diseases, so pesticide residues will be far lower than EU parameters,” says Peviani. “Victoria remains the most popular variety but the Italian seedless offer is increasing, though we are less satisfied with the price for that sub-category.
“Apulia is the most specialised production area in Italy, or maybe even the world as Italy is one of the largest producers of table grapes in the world. The advantages of growing grapes in Italy are many, including the professional attitude of the growers and their competence, backed by the climate.
“But a key challenge is the high cost of labour, which for table grapes in particular is an extreme burden, for both production and grading. The second disadvantage is the modest size of Italian retailers, which creates an excessive fragmentation of the offer.
“Spain and Greece are the main competitors to Italian supply and I would love to say that we compete on quality, but unfortunately I have to say that price has the most relevance. Even if you have better fruit, you will not get a premium price, you just earn the right to supply higher volumes.”
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