The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel paint a pretty picture for the stonefruit market, with apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches and plums growing by 13.5 per cent this year to be worth more than £279 million.

Volume growth is a remarkable 20.6 per cent in a category that has sometimes stuttered in recent years.

Apricots are enjoying the biggest upswing, and although cherries’ growth is the smallest in the category, it is second only to nectarines in volume.

These encouraging figures set the scene for the start of the South African season, which has been delayed by 10-12 days because of cold, wet weather for all stonefruit lines.

Once picking and packing was underway for peaches and nectarines in the Western Cape, labour and civil unrest in the region disrupted some sendings. One importer said: “It was not so much getting the harvest in, but distributing the crop to port as the road network was disrupted with blockades. Some exporters were therefore not able to make it onto the vessels they had planned to.”

Now that unrest has abated, produce is coming steadily onto the UK market. One sender reports increased volumes of early Amber Crest peaches, which are sought after by the British retailers, before supply starts to switch in mid-December into Early Grand and San Pedro.

The peach market in the run up to Christmas is typically tight on supply, so with the late start this season, there is no reason to suspect it will be any different.

Looking at nectarines, growers have increasingly been planting a new generation of varieties, most notably Superstar, which has good commercial availability this season.

Mayglo is also performing well and one importer told FPJ that sizes for multi-packs, as opposed to loose, are shorter than larger sizes. “We could see a situation where packing sizes could be more valuable than loose until later-season varieties come on stream. This is partly due to demand from other markets such as the Far East and Middle East. What could happen post new year, however, is that supply and demand could move the other way as demand traditionally falls away after Christmas and with more supply coming on stream, if people bring in too much fruit, we could see nectarine prices falling.”

Apricots are also running behind a normal start date and although the UK is not a big market for this line out of South Africa, the fact that output is set to reach its peak during Christmas week could be problematic for importers in other markets such as Germany to ensure they have the shelf space to cope with the volumes, suppliers say.

However, as far as all three lines from South Africa are concerned, quality is reported to be very good. One UK receiver said: “As far as we are aware, the late start has done good things for the fruit in terms of quality on peaches, nectarines and apricots and there is virtually no waste at all, with only a very small amount of fruit having issues with variable pressure.

Critically for the UK plum market, first fruit is only expected to arrive just one week before Christmas on board the Maersk Brooklyn on Monday. There is a forecast increase in output of early pink, small-fruiting variety African Rose, which will dominate the beginning of the season with Pioneer. So far, South African senders are reporting a gap between availability of these early cultivars and Sapphire. And sources say it is a great pity that the stonefruit crop has been delayed as it will not be able to take full advantage of the strong demand in the build up to Christmas.

Meanwhile, stonefruit specialist AG Thames has signed an exclusive agreement with a world-renowned breeder. Through its innovation arm, Newstairs, the Kent company has joined forces with California nursery Burchell to import, manage and develop all Burchell varieties throughout Europe and North Africa on an exclusive basis. The main focus countries are France, Spain, Italy, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.

The planting, propagation and marketing agreement will bring a number of innovative varieties of peach, nectarine, apricot, cherry and plum to the market, including Burchell’s peach varieties trademarked under the Flame series and its nectarines under Flare, for example Summer Flame and Spring Flare. —

PICOTA SURPRISE

Awareness of Picota cherries is increasing on the back of a concerted PR push. Kathy Hammond reports

The increasing focus on the unique nature of Picota cherries has helped strengthen sales of the fruit, according to the organisation that represents Spanish producers of the distinctive fruit.

The Cereza de Jerte Denomination of Origin Regulatory Council says approximately 2,500 tonnes of Picotas were sold in the UK during the short season in June and July this year. These figures account for roughly a third of the overall crop, making the UK the most important market for Picotas after the Spanish domestic market itself.

Pilar Díaz Flores, technical director of the council, says: “In the last decade, demand for Picota cherries has grown significantly in the UK market, thanks to the combination of the campaign we run with Foods from Spain and great support from the main supermarkets selling our fruit.”

In the 2012 season, promotional activity focused on the quality and provenance of Picota, encouraging shoppers to seek the unique cherry out during the limited time it appears on shelf. The aim this year was principally to get consumers to understand the difference between Picota and other cherries.”

Díaz Flores adds: “Their main points of difference are their quality, long shelf life and no stalks. The UK remains our main market, and sales of Picota have grown beyond last year’s record levels here, rising by approximately 6.5 per cent.

Foods from Spain promotes the fruit annually to shoppers as part of its integrated fresh produce campaign and in 2012 the thrust has been to establish the Picota name as a brand in its own right. It has therefore become a more prominent feature of in-store and media activities, with new design materials under the strapline ‘Catch them while you can!’ At the same time the campaign emphasised the premium quality, taste and short season of Picota. This year’s in-store activity included tasting sessions in supermarkets, online advertising and information about Picotas at the point of sale.

A Picota film was also produced featuring César García from Ibérica restaurant in London, illustrating the Picota story, which was featured on the product website and used as part of the social media strategy.

Gift boxes of Picota cherries were sent to journalists and food bloggers and a Picota-branded black taxi could be seen in and around London during the season.

Red Communications, which worked with Foods from Spain on this year’s promotional push, commissioned YouGov to carry out two surveys – one at the beginning of the campaign in June and one when it finished at the end of July. Of the 2,000-plus people surveyed, prompted awareness of brand Picota increased from 13 per cent at the start of the season to 20 per cent at the end – a 54 per cent rise in awareness.

Díaz Flores says: “The change in focus for this year’s Picota cherry campaign has been a success. An increasing number of consumers understand the differences between Picota and other cherries, and many now recognise the Picota brand. “We’re planning to build on the success of the 2012 season and take the Picota brand to the next level in 2013.” —

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