Sharing a grapefruit and squeezing fresh orange could become a thing of mornings past unless younger British consumers learn to love these breakfast classics.
UK whole grapefruit and orange sales are declining year on year, according to Kantar sales figures, leading some suppliers to speculate whether supermarkets will still stock them in the decades to come.
British citrus eaters in the main are an ageing breed. In the 52 weeks ending 31 October 2015, most citrus was bought by shoppers aged over 65.
Youth, dexterity and a full set of teeth, it seems, are inversely proportional to a British person’s desire to peel, cut or chew a piece of fruit. And this trend has some citrus distributors worried. “It is a concern and it is a fact that oranges and grapefruit are an older person’s fruit,” says Jonathan Olins, managing director of Poupart Imports, adding that targeted promotional campaigns, however inventive, are unlikely to rejuvenate sales.
“Younger consumers just want something that’s easy to eat,” he says. “The best thing that can happen for these products is that chefs start using them in their menus, or it is discovered that they help cure certain
diseases.”
Yet all is by no means lost for the UK citrus category, which, as Matt Warren of Tesco citrus supplier AMT points out, is a fairly broad church.
“Citrus covers a number of products,” he says. “You’ve got lemons, limes and easy peelers in there too. Oranges and grapefruits do tend to have older shoppers buying them, so that skews the statistics. But looking at some of the research figures we’ve had, limes have a much younger audience, and so do easy peelers.”
Although UK citrus market growth was fairly static this year (+0.3 per cent, behind total fruit at 5.3 per cent), shoppers’ desire for easy-to-eat fruit is working wonders for easy peeler sales.
Demand for mandarin, tangerine and clementine varieties is rocketing in the UK, say suppliers, and they now account for around 60 per cent of annual UK citrus sales.
Poupart Imports reveals its easy peeler volumes are doubling year on year, with growth driven by uptake of one variety in particular.
“Without question it is the mandarin Nadorcott is taking over from everything,” says Olins. “We are now bringing them in throughout the summer, from Peru and South Africa.”
Also known around the world as W Murcott and Afourer, the Nadorcott was originally developed in Morocco in the late 1990s and has since become popular globally for its sweet flavour and seedless qualities. “Without question it has been the best-selling easy peeler,” says Olins. “It eats well and looks good. And prices are gradually coming down as more is grown around the world.”
Elsewhere in the UK fresh citrus category, lemon and lime sales (which combined make up approximately 15 per cent of annual UK citrus sales in value terms) remain strong. Typically used for cooking and in drinks, demand is growing year on year, says Warren. TV shows like MasterChef and The Great British Bake Off are encouraging more Brits to cook from scratch. And retail of different beers and gins is boosting lemon and lime sales for drinks.
This summer, lemons were once again in short supply in the UK due to weather issues in Argentina and the Citrus Black Spot problem in South Africa, marking the fourth consecutive year of unusually high prices. Otherwise the 2015 UK summer citrus season, unlike last year when oversupply hit returns, was “normal”, according to distributors.
Typically, UK demand for grapefruit, oranges and easy peelers slows in the summer, as citrus vies for shelf space with so many other fruit products. Sales pick up in winter, though, and spike two weeks before Christmas, then again in January.
“Relatively speaking, citrus sales have a reasonably flat annual sales profile. That said, we definitely sell more citrus in the winter than summer, as promotions tend to be more frequent and consumers see citrus as a winter fruit” says Warren. “We see a big increase in lemon and lime sales for two weeks before Christmas, as people stock up for cooking and drinks. Their share of the total citrus category can rise by five to 10 per cent. Likewise, we see a very big increase in easy peelers in that period.”
January is a “massive” month for citrus, he adds, as hungover, over-fed shoppers look to detox on fruit after enthusiastic festive consumption. “Citrus is the most readily-available fruit at that time and prices are very reasonable,” Warren explains. “Oranges are particularly strong then.”
