Once considered an exotic addition to the fruit bowl, grapes continue to rise in popularity and are now a staple product in most households. Only apples are eaten more often, according to new figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

In the supermarkets these days there is a wide range of choice, from loose and seeded fruit to unseeded and pre-prepared. In terms of provenance, currently the South African varieties are readily available, even if there has been an issue with quality this season. “They had quite a lot of rain in South Africa so everyone is struggling across the board with quality,” says Barbara Krawczyk, grape technologist at Capespan. “The Chilean season is starting in the next few weeks and the growers are hoping to put prices up due to the South African season finishing slightly earlier than usual and the drop in quality.

“However, they will also have some quality issues, so I doubt prices will be that much higher.”

Her views are echoed across the industry. “The South African season has been difficult,” says another importer. “The first half of the season was impacted by rain in the Orange River area, which affected sales from mid-January onwards this year. Availability was hampered by vessel delays so around Christmas and New Year there were delays for up to seven days.

Some of the new varieties, Sweet Celebration and Starlight, have been well-received, although there have been some drop-berry issues with Starlight.

Overall the South African season has been tricky and growers in the country will be impacted by lower sales and vessel delays as well as the labour unrest, according to sources. There were a number of strikes in the Western Cape, and those three factors could affect returns.

In terms of consumption trends, there has been a massive shift from loose to punnetable grapes in the same way that there has been a shift from seeded to unseeded grapes, according to one importer.

“There are small volumes of seeded grapes but it’s almost all seedless. The exceptions are Red Globe, sold by Sainsbury’s, and Italia, sold in Waitrose, but generally the UK is a seedless market.”

In terms of supermarket offers, another source said he believes volume growth is probably being driven by ‘two-for’ offers, such as two punnets for £4. “I think people don’t consider a kilo of grapes too large a quantity to buy. It’s good news for the industry. The frequency increase may be down to people doing a big shop and then topping up in express stores.”

However, at the same time as UK demand is increasing, there is also more demand than before from various other markets. “Our suppliers in, for example Chile, are now also supplying markets like the Middle East, and this obviously puts pressure on prices,” he reveals. “Over the last year UK grape prices have actually gone down slightly so it hasn’t fed through to consumers yet. There is a bit of deflation at the moment.”

From an importer’s point of view, you never know what to believe though, he adds. “The Chileans tell us it’s so much easier to supply Germany, for instance, but when we speak to German contacts they have been told it’s so much easier to export to the UK, so we have to take it with a pinch of salt.”

In the recent past, markets in the Far East have become more prominent for Chilean exporters, he says, but the economies in Latin America have also improved. So the competition for Chilean fruit isn’t just the US any more, it’s also Latin American countries.

Chilean exporters are therefore making their decisions based on mitigating the risk of the product failing to meet market requirements. “The UK has, of course, been a very demanding market in the past and continues to place high demand on its players,” one supplier says. “We are getting less Chilean volumes than in the past. In the last week the UK had imported 198,000 boxes of Chilean grapes. The previous year it was 2.2m boxes, so it’s down by 90 per cent. There is a delay in the season and volumes are down, but the product that is available is going to alternative markets. The UK and Europe is bearing the brunt of the shortages.” —

PACKS TO SNACK

El Ciruelo is launching snacking grapes in two new formats, targeted at both the adult and kids’ markets. Lisa Kjellsson reports

Grapes are arguably the easiest fruit to snack on – no peeling required and they don’t stain. When seedless grapes were first launched, they were an instant hit as they serve as a quick and healthy snack.

With this in mind, Murcia-based El Ciruelo is launching two new snacking formats – one for adults and one for children. The grapes will be seedless and washed, in two different types of packaging. For adults, a 250g pack is suited to taking in to work, on a trip or for alfresco lunches. The children’s pack, meanwhile, is a 120g double tray of either white or red grapes off the stem, ideal for lunchboxes or to take on car journeys, for example.

“For children, it’s like eating sweets,” says El Ciruelo’s Cristina Gutiérrez. “This is a selection of the best seedless grapes, both white and red, with a new sales format that ensures higher quality, a better consumption and distribution throughout the 12 months of the year.”

For the new product line, El Ciruelo has patented a heat-sealing protective-atmosphere packaging system that allows the product to have a longer lifespan.

“It’s a logical next step,” says Gutiérrez. “Grapes are the most convenient fruit to snack on so it’s just tapping into their full potential. It’s about presenting the fruit washed and prepared, in formats that will appeal to people on the go and schoolchildren alike.”

Gutiérrez and her colleagues believe the new formats are both convenient and innovative. “We haven’t really seen anything like it in the market so far. There are pre-prepared fruit mixes; apples slices and grapes, for example, but we believe there is a real gap in the market for pre-prepared snacking grapes.

The company is gearing up for a pan-European launch this season, starting in March with Murcia-grown varieties and then coming into full force in June. “We have been in talks with all the retailers we work with across Europe, including the British supermarkets, and the interest level and response has been great,” confirms Gutiérrez.

El Ciruelo now has a large-scale stonefruit and table grape production, with volumes that range between 20,000 and 25,000 tonnes respectively, and has more than 1,200 hectares of in-house production and 1,500 managed by integrated producers.

The Murcian grape season runs from June to November, at which point the company switches to imported production from South Africa, Chile, Peru and India. —

Grapes are the most convenient fruit to snack on, so it's just tappinginto their full potential. It's about presenting fruit in formats that appeal to people on the go

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