Pink Lady volumes sold into the UK are 15 per cent up year-on-year in the first five months of 2006.
If the rate of growth is maintained across the year, that will translate into a quarter of a million extra cartons for the UK market.
The sales hike is being achieved on the back of an exceptional year in 2005, when volume increased by 25 per cent, in spite of the difficult year in general for the apple category. And even more encouragingly, values are being maintained while the sales surge continues.
“Last year was our highest increase in volume terms since 2000,” said Coregeo’s Andy Macdonald. “And the fact that values were maintained illustrates that the retailers and their customers appreciate that they are buying a premium product.”
Although South African sendings of Pink Lady were slightly down last year, due to the quirks of the weather, the US (up by one third), Europe (+30 per cent), Australia (+15-20 per cent) and Chile (+100 per cent) all registered sizeable increases in volume sales to the UK.
