Sales of exotics have slowed down over the last quarter. Demand traditionally tails off in the summer months anyway, with seasonal offers of berries and stonefruit taking up more shelf space - but the poor summer weather, which has only taken a turn for the better in the last seven days, has had more of a negative impact on sales than usual.
Demand is down across the category, according to insiders. “The market has definitely been affected,” says one. “I don’t think the weather has helped, but the main reason for slow sales has to be the worry about the economic situation. Then with more niche products such as prickly pear, kumquats, etc, the multiples aren’t even considering them. This does rely on shelf space also, though, as there is always lots of stonefruit available at this time of the year.”
“People just don’t have the money,” agrees one trader. “Lychees, passionfruit - whole products are disappearing off shopping lists.
“The category is not as easy as it was six to seven months ago. Importers are bringing in less because of the hike in freight rates. It is getting really difficult on lines such as passionfruit, rambutan, mangosteen and granadillas. For example, I was selling a three-kilo box of granadillas for £10, but now it costs £11.50.”
Sourcing is also becoming increasingly difficult, and supply into the UK is nowhere near as abundant as it was in previous months, say traders. Exporters are finding better markets for their goods in other countries. Some producers are evaluating the potential of new markets and are looking to place greater emphasis on developing sales to eastern Europe, with markets such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Russia offering “enormous potential”, according to one melon producer.
Rising oil costs are also hitting the pockets of exotics exporters. “Oil prices flow with the value of the dollar, and since this has lost important ground against other currencies, we are witnessing constant price rises to compensate,” says one South American shipper.
“Since most of our supplies are being imported from other countries in Europe, we have suffered extra costs because of the devaluation of the dollar against the euro,” he adds.
Chinese lychees have been able to fetch a high price if sold directly to supermarket chains in the UK, says one exporter, but sales to wholesale markets have resulted in substantially lower returns.
“We have been sending an early variety named Fay Zee Sui,” he says. “We have also been sending the Red Princess variety from Thailand and South Africa, which we will start from China next year.”
Overall sales of lychees in the UK have been down of late, and exporters report their customers holding back. “However, there is an upside in the niche market, where we tailor our promotions to address health concerns such as the negative effect of sulphur-treated fruits,” says the Chinese exporter. “We promote our lychees as ‘sulphur free’. Our fruit has zero sulphur residue upon arrival in the UK.”
Israel is also just into its main lychee export season, with six to eight weeks left. Its window to Europe follows on from supplies from Thailand and also coincides with the crop from China. “However, due to the situation in China, with many lychee growers moving to other crops such as wheat and corn, demand in the domestic market there is predicted to be in excess of supply,” says one insider. “This in turn means that there will be less competition in Europe. China also has considerable problems with traceability and pesticide usage, making it extremely hard to get listed in the multiples. As a result, they usually concentrate on the wholesale markets.”
The Israeli fig season is in full swing and will continue until Turkey comes on stream in mid-August. “As yet, sales are not as strong as last year in the UK,” says one trader. “The recent heatwave in the middle of June had the effect of bringing the fruit forward, but there was no adverse effect on the quality or taste - both of which were excellent. For the UK market, we generally only import Brown Turkey (the majority of the crop), Autumn Honey and Bursa from Israel.”
Turkish fig supplies will kick off in August for approximately eight to 10 weeks. “Last year was short due to lack of rain. This could be the case this year, but there should be more larger fruit, providing it rains… Further on in the season, we bring in fruit from Argentina and Peru to keep up supply,” says one trader.
But doom-mongering and sales slumps aside, there is some good news on the horizon for the exotics category, with promotions centred around health properties attracting consumers, and some growers actually increasing their plantings.
For example, volumes of Spanish persimmon are expected to increase dramatically in the next few years as a raft of new plantings come into production, according to sources in the industry. Increasing demand from the European market has stimulated interest in the fruit, and plantings have increased from a total of 10,000 trees in 2000-01 to around 320,000 trees this season.
A spokesperson for persimmon producers in Valencia said rain in March and April had affected production slightly, but that a rise in plantings again this year would mean crop volumes would not suffer. At this early stage in the season, he forecast that Spain would produce a ‘normal’ 45,000 tonnes of persimmon.
Some 74 per cent of this volume will be marketed under the Denomination of Origin (DO) Ribera del Xúquer, the name of the main producing valley in Valencia.
Spanish DO persimmon has been promoted in the UK by Foods from Spain since 2005. This year, activity to promote the fruit in supermarkets will include tastings in store, radio broadcasts, and customer information and recipe leaflets.
Israeli pomegranate exports are also on the increase. The first shipment will leave the country on August 14, by current estimation, for the early varieties. “Overall, we are seeing a significant increase this season - about 20,000t, of which 10,000t are from Agrexco growers,” says an Agrexco spokesperson. Growing areas have been increased - 250 hectares of new crop will be yielding this season. “The fruit needs cold temperatures at night for the red colouration, but if we get rain in the autumn (at the end of the Wonderful picking time) it could cause cracked fruit - hopefully this won’t be the case,” says Agrexco.
Pomegranates are seeing increased demand, mainly due to their health properties. “We’ll have to see how the current economic situation will affect sales,” says Agrexco.
As the autumn approaches, traders are optimistic there could be a turnaround. “I think something will give - growers still need somewhere to send their produce, and perhaps they will reduce their prices and that will filter through to us,” says one trader. “Exotics are a treat, and I think given time, people will want to start spoiling themselves again. Once the feel-good factor comes back, exotics will be on the rise again.”
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