By the time you read this, the first of this year’s Picota crop will have arrived in the UK. The recognised high quality of the fruit uniquely grown in the Valle del Jerte, in the Spanish region of Caceres, will be present, although volumes have been affected dramatically by the generally mild winter that has afflicted crops throughout southern Spain.
The first Picota was being delivered to packhouses as the Journal did the rounds last week (June 9-10). The microclimate makes the valley the only place on earth that can effectively produce this particular variety, but it has not been favourable this year. Cooler daytime temperatures and warmer nights, allied with untimely rain during the flowering period, have not only pushed the crop back by 8-10 days on what is considered a normal start date, but dropped total estimated production volumes below the tonnage that was exported to the UK last year.
Jesús Martín, managing director of the Regulatory Council for cherries from the valley, which controls the production regimes and quality of all cherries including Picota from 4,300 local growers, says: “In a normal year 25,000 tonnes of cherries are grown in the Jerte Valley, of which around 55-60 per cent will typically be Picota. Of that, 40 per cent is exported - the rest is sold on the strong domestic market - and half of the exports go to the UK.”
In 2003, UK importers supplied the multiple retail sector with 3,600t of certified Picota. Martín’s early prediction, which he admits may be on the conservative side, is that certified production might only reach 3,000t overall, the lowest output for a few years. “On a more positive note,” he adds, “the lower yield will be compensated for to some extent by fantastic quality and for the UK market, ideal sizing. The weather in Spain was similar to the rest of Europe this winter. There was no real cold snap, so trees have not had the opportunity to recuperate.”
Juan Luis Muñoz of Agrupación de Cooperativas Valle del Jerte says: “It is very difficult to calculate at this point, but I think this year we will have to concentrate more on maintaining the loyalty our customers show for the brand than expanding the volume.”
Straightforward demand and supply calculations should dictate that this will also be a high-priced season. However, the anomaly is that such a highly sought-after brand, on a low-volume, highly seasonal product should be marketed at a rock bottom price point. This year’s shortage is expected to see prices rise above the 99p a 400g punnet mark, but not by anything approaching a startling amount.
Picota was only introduced as an export crop eight years ago, and the prices it attracts polarise opinion. The decision was made early on that the UK was a volume market, and according to one senior industry representative there is a general belief that Picota exporters made a bad call and, in doing so, a rod for their own back.
Martín says: “There is a dying breed of products that are recognised for their short window and consistently produce high quality. These are the fruits that require the most attention and they should be valued in the marketplace. Bananas and apples have been largely commoditised and shown to be price inelastic. Cherries, on the other hand, are highly price elastic. If the right price ticket is applied, they fly off the shelves.”
“Our strategy is to supply a product that is tailor made for our customers’ needs,” says Muñoz. “Of course we have greater competition in years such as this - from Turkey in particular, so we need to differentiate our offer through quality and consistency. The UK market has a liking for Turkish and US fruit and we have been given a low price point tag. Clearly we would like to see that increase this year, but just as importantly we must ensure that our customers’ demands are met.”
There is an annual attempt to bring prices higher, says Martín. “Unless we can increase the size of the fruit to 24s, we will not have much success. Picota is a premium quality fruit, but smaller than competing cherries. The UK customer is not used to paying for that. The US, with higher sizes, can get considerably more for the same volume, so a slight increase would probably benefit us. We have to be realistic this year though.”
Longer term, the re-positioning of Picota is still an option, says Maria José Sevilla, director of Foods from Spain, in London. “We are still in the introductory phase and have positioned Picota according to demand,” she adds. “The brand is gaining recognition and is understood more each year by the British consumer. We intend to capitalise on that and consolidate our position. Unfortunately this year we cannot look to expand, but there is plenty of production potential.”
Some 50 per cent of the trees in the Valley are between five and 10 years old and after a huge expansion in volumes in the late 1980s and early 90s, the industry is likely to experience another upsurge in the next 10 years.
Grown in a sandy, acidic soil with an average PH of 5.5, the fruit normally benefits from a microclimate that delivers significantly different temperatures to the rest of the region. Plasencia, on the edge of the valley has an average night-time temperature of 24°C during the latter stages of the production and picking period, but just 20 kilometres along the road, that drops to 14°C.
Picota requires 50 days to move from the flowering to picking stage, which compares with 30-40 days for cherries in general. More tree time gives the fruit a greater degree of maturity when harvested, one by one, by hand. The darker skin finish and higher sugar content add to the consistency of consumer experience that has gained the variety a place in the UK shoppers’ psyche.
The Picota crop is actually made up of four different varieties. The earliest, Ambrunés, represents 70 per cent of the overall volume, while Pico Negro (20 per cent) and Pico Limón Negro (five per cent) precede the final strain, Pico Colorado (five per cent) into the market.
Each grower of any one of these varieties that is working within the Regulatory Council’s remit is given an updated version of its protocols every year.
Integrated production methods are almost universal, with the growers that are fully compliant recognised as such through the sharing out of returns from a central pool. The Council is in the process of creating a single protocol, in collaboration with Spanish body Aenor, which would allow growers to comply with all international market needs, including EurepGAP, in one process. This, says Martín, should be operating by the beginning of the 2005 cherry season.
The Agrupación de Cooperativas del Valle del Jerte works through Redbridge, Norton Folgate and Primafruit to export the majority of the Picota that arrives in the UK market. Its central packhouse and distribution centre at Valdastillas sources Picota from satellite stations in different parts of the valley. Its 4,000 plus grower members have the potential to produce 24,000t of Jerte cherries a year and average around 14,000t. This year will see a sizeable fall on that average. The remainder of the export crop is channelled through the Valley’s second export co-op Cooperativa del Campo.
While remaining the economic motor of the local sector, the inherently risky nature of cherry production is forcing growers to hedge their bets at the very least and plant larger quantities of plums, raspberries, almonds and olives, as well as smaller areas of other horticultural crops. “Younger farmers are turning to alternative crops in an attempt to guarantee a return on their investments,” says Alejandra Rodriguez of Agrupación de Cooperativas del Valle del Jerte. “But cherries continue to be a major part of the long-term strategy for the Valley. We are studying how best to protect cherry trees from the changing climate, particularly the early varieties. Picota is less susceptible, but this year shows that it can be affected.”
The Picota has been a part of the Jerte Valley furniture for centuries - an indigenous strain that has ingrained itself on an entire community’s culture. The first reference to cherries in the area was made in notes by one of King Pedro of Navarra’s emissaries in 1352. That it took a further 644 years for the first Picota to be exported perhaps illustrates the local pride in its heritage. “We don’t want the variety to change and we would like the processes used to grow and harvest the Picota to stay largely the same,” says Martín. “It is a way of life in this valley, the one crop that the people here have grown for centuries and something that should never be allowed to disappear.”
THE BEAUTIFUL CHILD
The biggest ever Picota cherry marketing campaign will kick off shortly, to support the crop in its peak window in the UK market. Administered by Foods from Spain and run by Red Communications, the campaign will combine consumer and trade media advertising with in-store activity to give the fruit its highest profile to date.
A national advertising campaign will feature on poster sites and in women’s magazines, Sunday supplements and retailer titles, as well as leading trade journals.
In-store, there will be box barkers, point-of-sale and on-pack promotions, featuring the opportunity in one promotion for shoppers to claim a free bottle of sparkling Cava wine with three proofs of purchase, and kids go free vouchers in another.
Maria José Sevilla says: “We will be running the second year of our award-winning “Spanish Picota Cherries - for real cherry lovers” campaign and will have heavyweight consumer media coverage in June and July.”
Juan Calabozo, director of the food and wine division at the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), says: “Since 2000, there has been one vision for promotion of Picota in the UK and it has become a model for other ICEX campaigns in terms of its management and creativity. It did not have the financial weight of some of our campaigns, but the concept behind it is special and unique. We have invested more than e4m and as research shows succeeded already in incorporating the word Picota into the English vocabulary.”
He promised continued support for the variety, saying: “We have a challenge now to maintain the impact and also to resist the pressure that might be placed upon us to move too fast. The future is not easy, but we have to succeed. It is very difficult to secure new markets for a product, but it is very easy to lose an existing market.”
Sevilla concludes: “The cherry is the beautiful child of the UK fresh produce market, which is a wonderful market for Spanish fruits and vegetables. Picota can benefit from a sector that has experienced huge growth. There will undoubtedly be price wars, but if we consistently continue to provide customers with what they need, we will do very well in the UK.”
LEARNING FROM CONSUMERS
The pillars of the Foods from Spain Picota campaign are built upon the learnings of consumer research by Red Communications.
John Valentine, director of Red Communications, says: “Only once the consumer issues, the market and distribution are understood can a campaign be developed that is relevant, compelling and accurately targeted.”
Red Communications ran customer focus groups to understand consumer issues relating to the Picota cherries. It found that:
• Buying Picota is a relatively spontaneous decision, made in-store
• There is still an over-riding consumer preference for fruit in its natural season
• There is a strong association between summer and cherries
• Cherries are seen as a treat, an ideal healthy snack ‘on the go’ and an informal dessert
To take advantage of these findings, the campaign was therefore designed to:
• Maximise impact at POS using promotions, shelf barker and posters
• Emphasise seasonality in consumer messages, such as ‘coming soon’, ‘available now’ or “only available...”
• Emphasise summer in consumer messages ‘a taste of summer’
• Promote the image of cherries as ‘indulgence’, snacks and dessert ingredients
The research also threw up a series of key selling messages. Valentine says: “Remarkably, Picota is the only type of cherry that is recognised by consumers. Consumers talk of red or black cherries, but in the fresh sector Picota was the only variety to have any recognition. The fact that Picota is exclusively grown in Spain’s Jerte Valley and is only available in June and July also creates consumer interest, as does the fact that it is unique in being stalkless, ripened on the tree and picked by hand. Consumers like the concept that it has reached optimum maturity when picked.”
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