Strawberry suppliers might have been celebrating the traditional Wimbledon boost, but the weather is continuing to cast a cloud over summer sales and returns remain a concern.
According to new Kantar data, overall value sales of soft fruit have increased by £10.4 million to £758m in the past year. Despite the growth, largely caused by price increases, overall volume has declined by one per cent (1,400 tonnes), with the average weight purchased by shoppers per trip falling from 448g to 441g.
And the poor weather has caused havoc for growers over the last few weeks and had a significant impact on demand.
Nick Kelly, MD of Berries R Us, explains: “June’s rain has been tough as it has dampened retail optimism and prices as a result are much lower than June 2011, when there was lots of sun.”
Berry Gardens MD Nick Marston agrees: “UK strawberries have been promoted harder this year to maintain sales in the face of very poor weather, which has meant lower returns to growers.”
The recent weather-induced depressed retail sales are also having a knock-on effect on the wholesale markets. Scotland-based fresh produce supplier Graham Nicol & Dow says wholesalers have been getting unfair stick from growers and that supermarkets have not worked hard enough to give them better prices.
Director Douglas Scott explains: “Growers are putting hundreds of pallets into the wholesale markets, who can’t cope with the volume any more and when our price quotes get them depressed, we get the blame.”
Scott would like to see the supermarkets become more flexible on soft-fruit prices during bad spells of weather. “When supermarkets can’t move soft fruit because of the poor weather, shouldn’t do they do a proper promotion rather than continuing five-month-old deals? The wholesale market can’t handle the volumes and there should be a partnership in place from supermarkets to negotiate better prices for growers.”
As for the retailers themselves, the last year has been good news for Waitrose, which has outperformed its total grocery share to hold 8.6 per cent of the soft-fruit market. Buyer Nicki Baggott says: “Waitrose soft-fruit sales experienced a huge increase last year. This year, it has been great to see customers buying plenty of berries even when the sun is not shining.”
Aldi and Lidl’s share of the soft-fruit market is now 3.5 per cent, down a little on its 4.6 per cent share of grocery. Marston has been tracking the supermarkets closely and has praise for the hard discounters’ approach to the category. “Discounters have underperformed hugely in the past,” he explains. “This has changed rapidly with discounters such as Aldi and Lidl stocking berries all year round, and pushing British product in its season, which has transformed their share in just one year.”
Blueberries, raspberries and strawberries were the three biggest categories in 2011, and Waitrose’s Baggott isn’t surprised. “Supply to each of the three categories has vastly improved to meet customer demand. For example, there used to be large gaps in the blueberry seasonal calendar when there was no fruit for a few weeks in April and October; these big dips in supply are no longer seen.
“It would be great to see the big three becoming the big four as blackberries are becoming more and more popular at Waitrose.”
Marston adds: “Berries has been the highest-value category of fruit in the most months of Kantar data over the last year - beating bananas, apples and citrus.”
Scott would like to see more of a retail push of varieties such as blackcurrants. “I would like to see a situation where we can see more of a variety of blackcurrants and redcurrants in shops. I know that is a lot for a fruit farm to take on but there is massive untapped growth potential.” And Kelly agrees: “Redcurrants are now a year-round business for us and the Dutch Rovada variety sells very well.” -
BERRIES: THE NEXT LEVEL
This month’s Fruit Focus is set to feature a range of new strawberry and raspberry varieties developed by British and Dutch breeders. Mike Knowles reports
New varieties of strawberry released by the renowned fruit breeding programme at East Malling Research in Kent will be showcased alongside types of raspberry newly developed by Dutch group Advanced Fruit Breeding during this year’s annual Fruit Focus event.
Among the strawberry varieties will be Fenella, Finesse and Vibrant, while the so-called primocane raspberries on display will include Imara and Kweli.
Fenella, a mid- to late-season variety bred in the UK to suit local conditions, is said to offer good rain tolerance, allowing for more reliable outdoor production.
“With good maincrop yields, a pleasant flavour and attractive, lighter skin colour than Florence, Fenella has a bright future for sales into most marketplaces,” says Laura Amos of Meiosis, a company established in the UK over 20 years ago to introduce new fruit varieties.
Finesse, meanwhile, is an everbearing variety that reportedly produces high yields of heart-shaped berries with excellent eating quality.
“Finesse can be grown in both substrate and soil growing systems,” Amos explains. “The lack of runners reduces husbandry inputs and the very good fruit display allows for a quick, easy harvest throughout the season.”
Finesse is also said to offer an advantage over many everbearer varieties because of its strong resistance to disease and adaptability.
Vibrant, which was named as the best new edible variety at the 2012 Grower of the Year Awards, has provided UK growers with an early season variety that apparently produces bold, large fruit of a uniformly conic shape with an excellent percentage of class I and good, mid-red colour.
The variety is picked one week ahead of Elsanta and, unusually, produces two crops of fruit in one season. “Vibrant is suitable for all market
outlets and is currently accepted by the retailers Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco,” Amos adds.
New primocane raspberries Imara and Kweli are understood to be generating some excitement thanks to their excellent yields for spring and autumn cropping. Both varieties produce fruit of superb size, quality, flavour and shelf-life, according to Amos.
“Imara is easy to harvest and produces attractive uniform shaped berries of beautiful colour that are not as dark as Polka,” she says. “The berries are firm, with an excellent flavour and have a superb shelf-life. Production in the autumn starts approximately one week after Polka.”
Kweli, meanwhile, produces fruit of an attractive, light orange-red in colour and which do not darken after harvest, with a shelf-life of up to 10 days not being exceptional.
Berries are reported to be large - averaging more than 5g in early trials - and this is reportedly maintained in double cropping.
“Flavour is good and the fruit is very easy to harvest,” says Amos. “The harvest season is similar to, or slightly later than, Polka.” -
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