The tail end of the home-grown berry season and the crossover to other sources has proven a challenge this year and suppliers are reporting a “general malaise” across the four major sub-categories, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries.
The autumn presented a fairly challenging market, with fruit plentiful and returns failing to reach the levels of last year. Volumes did not peak in the same way that they did last year, but were instead spread more evenly across the supply calendar. At the same time, there was a reduction in sales values year on year as a result of some aggressive price promotions by the retailers.
“A number of two-for-£3 offers were run through August and September for longer periods than before,” says an insider. “These multibuys actually help non-berry lines and are upping their sales, for example on grapes and cherries.”
The move into the Dutch glasshouse strawberry season saw very high prices, which have put pressure on retailers’ margins and posed further challenges for growers and suppliers. This is likely to continue until the season draws to a close at the end of the month, before suppliers turn to Middle Eastern sources to meet demand.
“This time of year used to be a difficult window in the old days, waiting for the southern hemisphere,” says one importer. “We used to end up with gaps, mad shortages and crazy prices. However, this year, late European fruit has held up well.”
More early-season raspberries came out of Spain in October, which boosted supply to the UK.
Blueberries enjoyed a strong late season in the UK and Poland, through August, September and even October. This continued into the southern hemisphere season, with good sales growth year on year pushed by aggressive price promotions at the major retailers. “These offers could have been seen as going against the grain, but I think they worked,” says one insider. “It turned out to be a good strategy that sucked up all the volume as production has increased, and built a strong platform for sales for the season.”
At the same time, Spain got off to an erratic start, with temperatures as high as 30°C bringing on blueberries four weeks ago. However, production has now steadied.
“Blueberry supply could shape up a little differently this year,” predicts on supplier. “Normally, once the southern hemisphere blueberry season gets underway and prices come down, senders switch from airfreight to seafreight, which takes three or four weeks to come through. This means we can get low-cost fruit before Christmas. But this year, the price has held up so almost no fruit has been shipped so far, which means it won’t get here until Christmas week. This means we could be looking at different volumes and a different way of bringing the fruit here.”
Blackberries were delayed out of Mexico until mid-October following some tough weather conditions, but supply is now up and running. Guatemala, too, got off to a mixed start with its export season four weeks ago. However, late UK and European production meant that this was not a serious issue and there was little impact on availability.
“The last two months have been challenging and, to be honest, you could say the same for the last two years in soft fruit,” says an insider. “But berries are one of the main categories that are driving sales in produce and that has been shown to be the case year after year. This means the category gets a lot of focus from the retailers and it is often promoted heavily. However, if you look at consumer insight research, it shows that many consumers who buy berries are not sensitive to price. This is a sign that soft fruit is being discounted too much and that we need to communicate messages better on pack, to encourage consumers to buy for reasons other than price.”
But as the festive period draws closer, the soft-fruit category is gearing up for a busy time in a bid to capitalise on the renewed emphasis on food, entertaining and treats. Across the supply chain, berry players are confident that demand will be boosted in the run-up to Christmas.
“There was some talk last year of the big companies cancelling their Christmas banquets and cutting back, but I have not noticed that our customers are buying less soft fruit,” says one soft-fruit supplier. “However, prices have been affected and, ultimately, it is the grower that is made to subsidise this. But the same volume of berries is going into the system.”
URUGUAY STANDS PROUD OF BLUES
Uruguayan blueberry companies are very optimistic for this year’s season, says Marta Bentancur Servetti, international affairs
co-ordinator at trade association Upefruy.
A good production level and fairly good demand were the principal aspects before the beginning of the season, even after the significant drought that hit our main berry-growing areas.
At the same time, several changes are making an impact to harvest organisation, packing operations, packaging and transportation.
Throughout the harvest, we are estimating that more than 3,200 trained people will work together, with more than 800 in packhouse operations. And there has been a huge effort to train and improve capacity to fulfil companies’ needs, as well as comply with legal and special protocol requirements.
Auditors from the most important retailers in the UK have visited our companies, along with importers from the US and other European markets, and seen that Uruguayan growers and exporters are showing full compliance with specifications.
All in all, the production estimate is around 2,000 tonnes and we now have to wait for the final figures.
The beginning of the season was delayed due to cold weather conditions, which did not allow fruit maturity. Additionally, rain, hail and wind in October reduced the export volume estimated previously. However, after the bad season last year, exporters reorganised the harvest, packaging and logistics to be able to increase efficiency.
Exports to the end of last week have reached 654t and $4.6 million (£2.8m), of which 56 per cent has gone to the US market. Europe has taken 44 per cent of the total volume, with the Netherlands and the UK as our principal destinations, with more than $1.5m so far.
For now, 11 per cent of our sendings has gone to the UK, but we will be increasing volumes to this destination in the coming weeks.
There have been no big changes in price compared with the 2008 season and quite good demand has been shown from our principal clients.
Pack sizes are changing, with clamshells or carton boxes the most popular formats. Clamshell sizes have increased and some exporters are sending bulk in 2kg and 3kg carton boxes to be packed at the destination, particularly to the Netherlands. This type of operation gives 20 per cent more efficiency and lowers transportation costs.
Our new terminal in the port of Montevideo, operated by Koeten Natie, has the capacity to become one of the main terminals in the region, with the capacity today to plug 2,700 containers at any one time for refrigerated cargo.
Additionally, our campaign - Blueberries from the South - is enjoying its second-year promotion in the UK and its first year in Germany.
In the UK, we have planned TV spots and other activities that will reach 50m people all around the country.
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