Sales of British strawberries rose to record levels in June. A total of 13,222 tonnes were sold through British supermarkets, which represents a like-for-like increase of 10 per cent over June 2003.
One of the contributing factors of the sales increase is believed to be the positive media coverage following the release of HDC-funded research on the benefits of berries conducted on behalf of British Summer Fruits by leading nutritionist Patrick Holford.
One of Holford’s key findings is that the high zinc content in strawberry seeds has a positive effect on a person’s sex drive. This generated over 137 pieces of print and broadcast coverage in June in news and health pages of titles as diverse as the Sunday Times, Company Magazine, The Sun, Good Health and Sky News. The story of the benefits of British berries even generated coverage as far a-field as the Sydney Morning Herald and Pravda in Russia.
The (mostly) warm weather and the marketing campaigns of individual supermarkets were also important factors.
“We are very encouraged by this positive start to the season,” said Laurence Olins, chairman of British Summer Fruits. “As an industry our biggest sales period has traditionally been the Wimbledon fortnight, yet this year sales have been consistently high throughout the whole of the month. Even the rain and wind of the first week and Euro 2004’s domination of the sports agenda couldn’t halt the rise in strawberry sales. If they continue for the next few months at these levels we will likely exceed last year’s annual record of 30,719t.”
No comments yet