The past year hasn’t been a vintage one for the potato category, but that hasn’t dented enthusiasm that things will pick up this season.
The latest Kantar Worldpanel figures show sales are up slightly, at £1.04 billion, but with a 1.4 per cent decline in volume [52 w/e 22 January]. Some sources have suggested the picture is not even quite as rosy as that.
Value growth came mainly from price rises, while a reduction in promotions led to the volume drop, according to Kantar analyst Matthew Ward.
Industry insiders believe the warmer than usual weather during the autumn and up until January dampened demand for potatoes compared to the year before, when the extreme cold had given the category something of a sales boost.
Nevertheless there is reason for optimism, not least in the progress of newer and branded varieties that are starting to come through on shelf.
Albert Bartlett has this week launched its American-style Russet potatoes in selected Asda, Booths and Lidl stores, as well as in Ocado. Promoted as “the USA’s favourite potato”, Russets are traditionally grown in Idaho, where they have protected origin status.
The potatoes have a creamy yellow flesh and dry texture and are said to produce the perfect chip. “It’s about doing something different and stepping outside the conformity of what people say [you should do],” says Bartlett sales director John Heginbottom. “There’s an opportunity to do a bit of marketing, especially as it’s National Chip Week this week.”
Meanwhile, Fenmarc reports that Rudolph potatoes are bucking a trend for falling sales of red potatoes generally by posting sales this season up 57 per cent against the same time last year. The product also had a 188 per cent uplift in the week before Christmas, the company added.
That comes in contrast to Potato Council figures showing value and volume sales of reds dropping 22.5 and 26.5 per cent respectively in the last quarter of 2011. “It’s great news that Rudolph potato sales continue to grow, especially at a time when reds in general have shown a bit of a downturn,” says Fenmarc’s Jo Giggs.
“Rudolph has also been a variety we’ve believed in and invested in, so we’re delighted to see our work is paying off.”
Fenmarc has been running a marketing campaign focussing on a new strapline - “All tastes catered for” - as well as a new website and Twitter feed, deliveries of new season potatoes to media and chefs and a tasting day at Tuddenham Mill in Suffolk.
As far as this season’s production is concerned, it is still early days, but plantings are currently ahead on the same period last year, according to Jim Davies, a senior potato analyst at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.
Despite two cold weeks in Cornwall everything is looking on track for the early crop, Davies reports, with some 560 hectares planted in the region as of the start of last week.
And producers also have high hopes that this season’s Jersey Royal crop - and indeed the potato category as a whole - can benefit from the Queen’s Jubilee in the same way that sales received a boost from the royal wedding last year.
That brings the prospect of improving on the 10.3bn food occasions featuring potatoes in the past year [Kantar, 12 m/e November 2011].
Before then, chip suppliers will hope to get a sales uplift from National Chip Week this week, with events taking place around the country. As part of the event, Peter’s Fish Factories in Ramsgate and The Three Tuns in Sittingbourne have won the Best Pub/Restaurant chips categories in the Choice Chip Shop Awards.
The National Chip Week website includes original chip recipes and unusual suggestions to enjoy the perfect chip meal. There is also extensive social media support for the event taking place on Facebook and Twitter. -
A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLE WATER
One of the UK’s leading potato suppliers, Greenvale AP, is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to its water footprint. Elizabeth O’Keefe finds out more
With the challenging economic environment raging on, combining an increase in fuel and energy costs with a drive by consumers to spend less, Greenvale AP has identified water utilisation as a main priority.
As part of this, the company has developed a revolutionary water-saving system Cascade, which has now been installed on two of its three processing sites - Shropshire and Cambridgeshire - with a view to installing it at its Duns site in 2014. Through Cascade, Greenvale is aiming to slash its water usage by 80 per cent and cut the energy costs of chilling the water by 50 per cent. The system also processes the sand and soil, which is siphoned out of the water to be reused and sold on, so that almost everything is recycled.
Greenvale AP’s chief executive, Angus Armstrong, recently highlighted the issues facing the potato industry when he spoke at the Cambridge University Potato Growers’ Research Association Conference in December. Armstrong identified the collective challenges that the UK’s potato growers need to overcome, emphasising the need for everyone to take responsibility and play their part in resolving them. The top of these priorities was efficient water utilisation, and “not just for the sake of the UK’s environment but for that of the entire world”.
He told delegates that by 2025, water requirements are predicted to rise by 50 per cent in developing countries and 18 per cent in developed ones - by this time some 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity.
Greenvale AP has also introduced a more accurate and targeted irrigation system. “The new irrigation system uses mini sprinklers that are set 10 metres apart and fixed permanently into the same field while the crop grows,” says the company. “Using this system each potato only needs a little water each day, saving significant amounts of water. On top of this, the preferable growing conditions produce a better quality potato. Greenvale has commercially run the system for a few years, slowly expanding its use onto more difficult Maris Piper potato-growing land with amazing success. We are now encouraging our grower partners to invest in the system to ensure maximum crop yield and quality.”
Handling 600,000 tonnes of potatoes every year and supplying major retailers and food manufacturers, Greenvale AP believes that working closely with its own fully committed growers means that it has the opportunity to utilise advances in irrigation technology and take charge of reducing water usage on a much larger scale. -
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