September to October heralds the start of the new Spanish salad campaign and many suppliers are hoping to ramp up their volumes over the coming months.
The industry has not had an easy time of late, encountering such obstacles as volatile prices and climatic anomalies. However, many producers and shippers have little choice but to accept these as hazards of the job and are concentrating their efforts on the new season.
Tomatoes represent the backbone of A Gomez’ business and its largest Spanish tomato supplier, Hortifruiticola Paloma, is also the country’s leading producer. As well as tomatoes, Gomez offers high quality cucumbers, iceberg lettuce and peppers.
“All our Spanish suppliers are extremely active in the development of new varieties with samples frequently being sent to the UK for customer feedback,” says the company’s Steve Parmenter. “The focus for our suppliers is to produce varieties that consistently offer the best eating quality.”
Meanwhile, Spania Fresh Produce imports cucumbers, peppers and a range of tomatoes including Pitensa, cherry tomatoes and Santa Pluma from Spain and the Canary Islands, according to Steve Cornwell, sales and procurement director.
“Our specialised varieties will increase in volume year-on-year in a controlled way,” says Cornwell adding that conventional products should also see some growth.
Spania Fresh is very positive about the upcoming campaign and believes that better prices can be achieved by improving quality and adopting better crop controls.
The group, which consists of European salad growers, was formed three years ago and markets fresh produce to a number of clients ranging from supermarkets to the food service industry, processors and wholesalers.
One factor that inevitably has a huge effect on production is weather. Mother Nature has been extremely busy this year and according to Parmenter, unpredictable weather has made it a difficult season to predict overall volumes. Yields were hit earlier in the year when parts of Spain were blanketed in snow.
Normally, however, he notes that Spanish weather is “highly advantageous” to crop production. Gomez imports the majority of its Spanish salads from the Mazarron and Aguilas regions of Murcia. “This area in Spain is rapidly becoming known as the ‘California of Europe’ due to its sunny climate and year-round production of fruit and vegetables,” Parmenter says.
“Aguilas and Mazarron are ideal locations for cultivating tomatoes due to the warm micro-climate developed by the Mediterranean sea and Sierra Espuña mountains.”
The areas enjoy sea breezes in the summer and in the winter are protected from wind by the mountain range.
“Every day in Aguilas and Mazarron is ideal for growing tomatoes and the long sunny days produce extremely flavoursome tomatoes,” Parmenter claims.
When asked to comment about this year’s climatic conditions, a philosophical Elena Pascual of Grupo Primaflor said that weather always will affect agriculture, whether it is the heat bringing forward the crop, or the cold delaying production.
Primaflor plans to begin exporting salads around October 20 and according to Pascual, volumes have been increasing year-on-year on selected items. In the near future, the producer plans to export leafy salads such as radicchio and red cos.
Fellow Spanish producer Mabe Hortofruticola ships peppers, courgettes, aubergines, cucumbers and beans to the UK. The firm hopes to start exporting to the UK in September, says the company’s Juan Carlos Andreo.
The company will produce more peppers, cucumbers and aubergines this year, and larger production has been attributed to increased demand, consolidation and new opportunities. Andreo believes that a small group of Spanish companies represent his firm’s main rivals but he is confident that Mabe Hortofruticola can hold its own.
“We have the best food safety, that’s why our customers, which include supermarkets, convenience stores and caterers, always want our products,” he claims. “They can be sure that with the brand Mabe, they’ll receive the best product in the best conditions. You need to prepare a high quality product and price according to the quality level.”
One of Spain’s greatest assets is its ability to produce key salad items throughout the year. But overseas competition is hotting up. While you should never underestimate your rivals, Cornwell believes there’s no need to panic just yet.
He believes that Spain’s main competitors are Morocco, Egypt, Sicily, Sardinia and Senegal. In addition, Turkey is improving its growing techniques.
“However, Spain’s advantages are the sheer volume of growing areas with a very high standard of technical ability, good infrastructure and professional, dedicated distribution systems,” Cornwell says.
Parmenter singles out Morocco as being the main rival to watch, as the country enjoys a very similar climate and growing conditions to Spain. Production costs are a fraction of Spain’s, although its non-EU status limits the volumes that Morocco can export.
However, despite the competition, observers feel that Spain will continue to lead the way on some key products.
“Spain has worked hard to achieve its position at the forefront of European tomato production investing in new more flavourful varieties like Aranca, Flavorino, and Santa,” Parmenter says.
Similarly to other suppliers, Gomez is looking to make gains this season and Parmenter is confident that Gomez Reserv branded produce will perform well.
“The Gomez Reserv brand of vine tomatoes are the best that you can buy on the wholesale market,” he claims. “In the distinctive eye-catching blue carton, it’s now possible to buy premium quality tomatoes every day, any time of the year.”
One of the major advantages that Spain used to have over its competitors was low production costs but this is no longer the case, Parmenter notes.
In order to remain competitive, Gomez has embarked on its G3 efficiency initiative. This is a fully automated distribution centre that connects Gomez’ two existing pack houses.
“When fully operational, G3 will reduce costs right across the business by improving efficiencies from the beginning to the end of the supply chain,” Parmenter explains.
Ask any Spanish producer about supplying to the UK and the word challenging is likely to come up. “There is little opportunity in the industry, the prices are lower every year, and the UK needs the best quality to get the best product in the salad bag,” says Pascual.
However, Primaflor believes that it enjoys some advantages, namely that it controls all of its production and can offer a wide variety of products.
Observers believe the opportunities and challenges for Spain this year include increasing quality and service levels for the UK market and adopting a fool-proof method - giving customers what they want. This can be achieved by diversifying into popular crops that sell well, Cornwell notes.
One product that Spania Fresh is keen to spread the word about is its mini-cucumber. “Our managing director, Morna Blair-Cornwell, has been spending a lot of time with our Spanish and Canary growers discussing ways of developing and launching the mini-snack cucumber,” Cornwell notes.
Spania Fresh has been working closely with those involved in the UK and Dutch supply chains and believes that the mini-cucumber could be a popular addition to children’s lunch boxes and perform well in retail stores.
“This has been a great success and we will see a massive uplift in demand,” Cornwell predicts. The mini-cucumber is grown in Southern Spain and Gran Canaria and production will switch to the Lea Valley in the spring and summer to ensure a 12 month supply.
EVS ANTICIPATES CATEGORY GROWTH
English Village Salads (EVS) anticipates shipping more Spanish salad volumes to the UK this coming season due to healthy growth in key items, in particular wholehead salads. A more discerning consumer palate has also contributed to a 23 per cent increase in demand for vine and speciality tomatoes.
According to the company, the season has begun a little earlier than normal for round tomatoes from Murcia and Almeria.
Kate O’Shea, EVS general manager believes that salad growth will continue. With more emphasis on health awareness, consumption is set to rise, with tomatoes in particular finding favour.
EVS is further hoping to maintain interest by introducing new products including the pepper varieties, Piccolo and Sweet Bite, this season.
According to O’Shea, the big challenge this season is the potential water shortage during winter. She further notes that all seasonal produce that is weather dependant will experience fluctuations in pricing. “We endeavour through good planning and forecasting, sensible programming and liaising with growers to limit volatility,” she says.
While the firm reports increased competition from Morocco, Poland and Egypt, Spanish growers additionally have to contend with the extension of UK seasons and the competitive nature of the UK retail industry driving down costs, says O’Shea.
However, EVS believes that its main advantage in Spain is the existence of International Produce Limited - Asda’s importer on all produce.
“International Produce manages the logistics and technical side in Spain with an office there, while the commercial relationships with suppliers and Asda are managed directly by EVS,” O’Shea explains. “This creates a strong and efficient supply chain from Spain, ensuring good quality for the consumer.”
