This Picota season is shaping up to be the best for several years, and producers are very pleased with the initial fruit that they have harvested, according to suppliers in Agrupacion de Co-operativas de Vallé de Jerte.
“The growing conditions in the Valle del Jerte have set the scene for what should be an excellent 2006 Picota cherry season,” says Penny Pidd, product manager at Redbridge. “This is borne out by the quality that we have seen in our first arrivals this season.”
Picota cherries are sourced only from the Jerte Valley in the north of the Caceres province in Spain, where the north-east to south-west orientation of the area, with its sunny terraces and specific soil type, provides the ideal growing conditions for the protected variety.
The Picota line consists of the Ambrusés, Pico Limón, Pico Negro and Pico Colorado varieties.
The season will finish sooner than would be expected, after a period of rain throughout the blossoming stages and low temperatures during the early stages of production, according to Jon Clark, national accounts manager at JO Sims.
“Thunderstorms during the picking period, and then light rain without winds, made for very humid conditions, but this soon passed and the crop looks to be unaffected,” says Clark. “The quality of the fruit looks very good, and there is a good percentage of 21-23mm and 24-26mm fruit.”
The Picota season runs from mid-June until the end of July, and is set to finish two weeks ahead of schedule. But producers in the Jerte Valley have reported reasonable crop volumes, with this year’s yield expected to be five million kilos, down from the usual eight million kilos. “This is a similar situation to last year,” says Clark. “There will be a high volume of fruit available on a week-to-week to basis, and this adds to the Picota’s position on the supermarket shelf.”
The profile of Picota has been on an upward spiral for a number of years. “The variety was being eased out of the market a few years ago, with retailers and consumers favouring the stemmed cherry,” says Clark. “But Picota promotions have been a roaring success, and there is now a high demand for the product.”
The UK represents one of Spain’s largest Picota cherry markets. “If the UK continues to see high temperatures as we have experienced in recent weeks, we could see a strong demand and good availability of the Picota cherry in the next few weeks,” says Pidd.
The focus on Picota within the retail sector has changed over recent years, according to Pidd. “The product had been sold as a high profile promotion, typically at 99p,” she says. “But the emergence of new European sources of stemmed cherries, and rising growing and production costs in Spain, has caused exporters, growers, retailers and importers alike to re-evaluate the role of the Picota.
“In the last three or four years, the Picota has found a niche role as a high-profile summer fruit with some retailers, and successful, if small player, alongside stemmed cherries and others.”
Picota cherries have a denomination of origin certification that allows them to command a position on the UK supermarket shelf. This mark of quality shows that the product meets the highest European standards.
Italian and Turkish stemmed cherry varieties are Picota’s main competitors. “But where retailers place major emphasis on the product we have seen strong growth in the last few years, in spite of the retail price being lifted over the £1 barrier,” says Pidd. “The successful re-invention of the Picota has been due, in the main, to the continued focus on quality at source, as well as the emphasis that is placed upon it with high profile supporting activity from Foods from Spain.”
The Foods from Spain Picota cherry campaign won the Re:fresh Marketing Campaign of the Year award in 2004, and became part of their integrated promotional initiative launched at the beginning of last year.
“Picota is now the first product in our promotional calendar, and sets the scene really well for the rest of the year,” says María José Sevilla, director of Foods from Spain in the UK.
This year’s Foods from Spain initiative to promote Picota cherries to UK shoppers features 1.8 million purchase-related promotions, up from last year’s record number of on-pack offers on Picota.
“Following the successful inclusion of Picota cherries in the inaugural year for Foods from Spain’s integrated promotional campaign, we have a strong media presence once again in 2006, and more promotional packs than ever before,” says Sevilla.
Tesco, Morrisons and Asda will make up to 75 per cent of Picota sales in the UK.
Morrisons is giving a free bottle of Cava to customers who buy three packs of Picota. This promotion will run on one million packs, and last for around 20 days from the start of the season. Asda is offering a free children’s DVD with sales of three Picota packs.
The Foods from Spain promotion also includes more than one million promotional labels, six-sheet and trolley advertisements in the major multiples and coverage in the national press.
The activity kicks off the second year of Foods from Spain’s integrated promotional campaign, which was launched in 2005 to give a co-ordinated approach to raising the profile of Spanish fresh produce among consumers.
“Picota is the only cherry sold without a stalk, and has a relatively short season, so the cherry always generates excitement when it arrives in the shops,” says Sevilla. “We are taking full advantage of this by promoting on pack, in-store, on the internet, and in the consumer and trade press.
“This is great news for Picota, and, as the campaign maintains an integrated look throughout the year, it’s great news for the other produce Foods from Spain is promoting.”
The promotional activity surrounding Picota means that the product is anticipated both by retailers and consumers, says Sevilla. “These types of promotional campaigns are crucial to the success of any fruit or vegetable season, and give renewed focus as we all try to draw attention to the health benefits of fresh produce,” she adds But cherries are not normally on the family shopping list, and are mainly bought as an impulse purchase, says Clark.
Picota has already made a move into the snacking industry, with 100g packs available on the convenience counters at the major multiples, alongside sandwiches and prepared salads.
“The convenience sector is one way forward, and the small pack format has proved very popular,” says Clark. “Marks & Spencer was the first to stock the Picota convenience packs three years ago, and Tesco has picked up on this now.”
There is still a way to go before Picota is seen as a staple fruit in Britain, according to Clark. “The cherry market has doubled in value over the last four years,” he says. “Now we have to work on making consumers go shopping with the intention of buying them. This is all about trying to find a formula that works with the consumer, monitoring the high street, and seeing what works and what doesn’t.”
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