What are your thoughts on the state of the banana market in the UK and internationally?
The UK banana market remains steady. The key change has been the move by some retailers to source directly and while this is a seismic shift, the situation is still evolving. The other category trend is the move from loose bananas towards pre-packed bags, which helps increase retailer returns as loose remains the weapon of choice in the battle of the media in shopping basket retails.
Generally though, penetration remains fairly static at almost 90 per cent of all UK households, with growth coming from increased frequency of purchase as bananas assert themselves as the ultimate on-the-go healthy snack.
Where are you mainly sourcing from? How do you balance your supplies?
Del Monte sources from Central America and Cameroon. Our global scale and vertical integration allows us to offer reliable supply and contingency planning; important elements that are hard to achieve with a direct sourcing model.
Banana prices across Europe apparently slipped by 29 per cent as a result of the E. coli outbreak. Have you seen any evidence of this?
The UK market price for bananas has remained relatively controlled with no notable impact on consumption, although the temporary stop on imports by Russia did create a short-term oversupply of fruit in Europe, which depressed free market prices in the immediate short term.
Do price promotions help sell more bananas?
Kantar Worldpanel data consistently enforces the view that bananas are price inelastic; price wars on loose bananas have relatively little effect on overall consumption levels while price activity on pre-packed bags tends to cannibalise other banana formats rather than generate incremental category sales.
Del Monte remains one of the strongest brands across the whole of fresh produce. How important is branding in bananas?
The Del Monte brand is synonymous with quality and UK consumers have trusted it for decades to provide the highest quality fruit. As consumers increasingly look to buy at a distance through other channels such as home shopping, this quality guarantee becomes increasingly relevant and places us in an enviable position to capitalise on consumers’ continued demand for quality fruit.
What is the profile of your main end consumers?
Bananas appeal to almost every social demographic and age group, from babies to the elderly and from health fanatics to everyday family life. What has altered more recently is the channels in which consumers seek to purchase fruit and the increasing demand for pre-bagged formats within retail - both of these trends are set to continue.
How have sales of the single banana pack progressed? What would you say to some of the criticism you received about the format having been “over-packaged”?
The coverage of the Del Monte CRT banana was mixed but we were gratified to see the debate it engendered. The question of consumer unit packaging is increasingly relevant but does need to be balanced against overall (including secondary) packaging, fuel consumption and food waste - 1.6 million bananas are thrown away each day, according to WRAP. Low level trials of Del Monte CRT continue to establish the benefits we firmly believe this packaging format delivers.
We are proud to be an innovator in this mature market. We remain committed to finding new formats and packaging that bring benefit and value to our consumers by making bananas more widely available as a viable alternative to other, less healthy snacks.
Are there any other options you are looking at around banana shelf life?
We constantly review every opportunity to increase the shelf life of our products. One of our major strengths is the vertically integrated nature of our banana business, which means that we can apply detailed focus to all elements of our supply chain from our farms, through our shipping fleet to our UK infrastructure and right up to our customers’ fixtures.
How many staff do you have across how many sites, and what are their particular specialisms?
Del Monte employs specialist staff at its facilities based at Boston, Dover and Portsmouth, but, in addition, we are also able to draw on expertise from the wider Del Monte Corporation based right around the world.
A number of major supermarkets have gone 100 per cent Fairtrade. What effect does this have on your business?
The non-Fairtrade banana sector still accounts for more than 75 per cent of the UK banana market and is responsible for the lion’s share of category growth. We have respect for the Fairtrade concept that protects the smaller grower but Del Monte, as a major grower, takes very seriously its own responsibilities to its large number of farm employees. All involved in the supply chain have a responsibility to ensure sufficient returns are achieved to ensure security of employment into the future.
Is there any scope to increase consumption in such a mature category?
Although bananas are a mature category, they still enjoy increasing consumption through increased frequency of purchase, or people buying bananas more often. There is also some evidence that bananas are enjoying some switching from other, more price sensitive fruit types as consumers’ purses and wallets remain under pressure.
As the ultimate intrinsically healthy snack that, kilo for kilo, represents the best value of any fruit type, we believe that there is plenty of opportunity for increased banana purchasing through convenience channels, including vending - something our innovative CRT single banana has been developed to address.
What do you see as the future for Del Monte in the UK and internationally in bananas?
We are a strong company, with a strong brand that consistently delivers good quality products with a high service level. These qualities are durable and make us optimistic. Short-term trends and initiatives sometimes disrupt the marketplace but, over its 100-plus year history, Del Monte has witnessed many market trends in bananas and remains focused on the category’s buoyant future.
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