Grape values have climbed 10 per cent year on year on the back of an increase in volume of 4.7 per cent, pointing to a healthy balance in the marketplace, according to new figures from Kantar.
The main factor behind this is an increase in shopper frequency as well as higher price points. Looking across the varieties, it is black fruit where the most growth is happening. “This is mainly because availability has been improving from a range of sources,” says one supplier. “So it is natural growth; more plantings are coming on stream and there is simply more volume where there wasn’t before. It is down to the quest to have black grapes 12 months of the year.”
Popularity and uptake of red grapes continues its steady climb too, but the main factor at play is not down to variety, but packaging.
“That is where the real growth is coming from – sales of punnets – while there is a decline in 9kg sales,” the supplier explains.
White fruit has to some extent been a victim of this trend as more of it is sold loose than either red or black. And although sales of loose white have fallen back, white fruit in punnets sells well. One industry analyst says: “I think loose fruit will always have a place – this industry can be quite cyclical – but the trend is definitely towards punnets.”
Carla Mills, grape buyer at The Co-operative, believes consumers’ perception of grapes is what has helped growth. “Grapes have become more of an everyday purchase rather than a luxury fruit,” she says. “Growth has been driven both by more shoppers buying grapes and by shoppers buying grapes more often. The two-for promotional mechanic has also helped to encourage shoppers to pick up more in each purchase.”
At The Co-operative, white grapes account for a huge proportion of all grape sales showing, Mills believes, that they are still popular, but there is an explanation for the improved performance by coloured fruit. “The year-on-year growth seen in red and black grapes has been driven by improved supply and better eating varieties, giving shoppers a year-round alternative and different flavour.”
As a retailer, The Co-operative believes it is important to continue to drive growth. “We keep packaging simple so customers can see as much of the product as possible and make sure the offer gives them value for money,” says Mills. “To keep our shoppers interested, we have recently introduced a limited-edition punnet into our range, which allows us to showcase the many unusual varieties that are available. We have ranged even our smallest stores to stock both red and green varieties and we are now ranging black grapes in some of our larger stores.”
Looking at the marketplace itself, the transition period is going smoothly, according to one supplier. And El Ciruelo in Spain has been supplying to its UK customers since 10 June on white grapes, with red and black starting in mid-July. “The market is very much Spanish-dominated now,” said El Ciruelo’s Rupert Maude. “Red has started a little later than other years and Midnight has come earlier.”
El Ciruelo, which grows in the Murcia region, will also have more volume this year and new varieties from the breeding programmes it is involved in: Sunworld Inc, ITUM, Special New Fruit Licensing Ltd and International Fruit Genetics Ltd.
Next on the calendar is the Greek season which is about to start, but Mimi Spilipoulou, manager-director at ASPW Trading, is a little nervous about Egypt’s late finish to the season.
“We might face a problem with the late Egyptian season, for example prices are quite low on the Dutch auctions at €6.50 for 4.5kg,” she points out.
“However, we have good quality Thompson Seedless from Crete and Corinth. We had some low temperatures earlier in the season which caused some damage, but we still have plenty of fruit for export,”
she concludes.
IN THE BAG
Producers of a traditional grape from Spain are branching out and offering a new variety for the first time this year. Kathy Hammond speaks to Enrique Sánchez, a producer of the Uva de Mesa de Vinalopó
Growers in the seven villages in the Vinalopó valley in the south-eastern province of Alicante in Spain have been growing their paper-bag covered grape crop since the 1920s.
Enrique Sánchez is a grower and also heads up the table grape section of La Unió de Llauradors, the farmers’ union in the area. “This year production conditions have been all right, apart from hail in May which affected quite a large area of production in Novelda, one of the seven municipalities,” he says. “Usually the region produces about 40,000 tonnes of bagged grapes, but this year it is likely to be a bit less than that, maybe 37,000t because of the hail.”
Production is extremely labour intensive from the time when the bags are first put on bunches from the end of June until the harvest is complete and the bags have been removed in packhouses in December or even January. Yields are also far lower for a product that differentiates itself on skin finish, colour and sugar levels.
”We produce about 25,000-27,000kg a hectare, which compares to production of 40,000-50,000kg in Italy, for example,” Sánchez explains. “However, putting bags on the fruit not only protects them from the sun, rain and insects, it also helps the fruit to mature more slowly which is good for sugar levels, and also produces a very fine skin.”
The paper bags themselves are specially produced for the job and are made of cellulose paper that is glossy on one side.
Up until this year, the main varieties have been seeded white grapes Ideal – which is known outside Spain as Italia – and Aledo. However, Sánchez confirmed that there are a number of new types being produced in the Vinalopó manner for consumers this season. These are Victoria, Muscatel, Doña María and Dominga, all of which are white, and Red Globe. ”These are all new varieties to our Protected Designation of Origin this year,” he points out.
The main markets for the grapes are the domestic market, which Foods from Spain estimates to hold a 38 per cent of the total crop, and the markets of France and Italy. The bagged grapes are little known in Germany and the UK, where consumers have a preference for seedless fruit without the strong flavours of seeded varieties. Other markets further afield have been opening up for the 41 growers in the valley that are affiliated to the PDO and sendings to Russia are growing, while some even export to Canada.
It is also encouraging after a period of stagnation that new plantings are once again increasing. “These last two years plantings have been increasing. I think that maybe it is because with unemployment and the difficult economic situation in Spain, those who have land are coming back to it,” concludes Sánchez. —
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