Plastic protects the early Spanish sugraone crop

Maria José Sevilla

Maria José Sevilla

The Spanish Sugraone crop, and more specifically the proportion which is licensed to be marketed under the Superior Seedless trademark in international markets, is set fair for the coming season.

More than 400,000 boxes were sold in the UK last season, with retailers reporting sales increases of between 56 per cent and 214.6 per cent.

Maria José Sevilla, director of Foods from Spain, said: “Superior Seedless grapes were the second of Spain’s fresh products that we promoted in 2005, in the first year of our integrated campaign. The work we were doing in UK stores and in the media was supported well by an excellent crop with good sugar levels.

“We are promoting Spanish Superior Seedless as part of the integrated campaign once again this year, with on-pack offers, in-store promotions and consumer media activity all featuring.

“Meanwhile, exporters tell us they are expecting a crop of similar quality, and slightly higher volume, to last season. When Spanish grapes arrive on supermarket shelves later this month [June] these two factors will help us sustain our leading position in the increasingly competitive UK grape market.”