These are challenging times for stonefruit traders, with the category experiencing value and volume decline as it fights for the shopper’s pound.
The value of the UK market as a whole stands at £325 million and has seen a year-on-year decline of 4.3 per cent, shrinking underneath the 3.6 per cent growth of the fruit industry collectively. Volume sales have dropped 8.8 per cent, according to Kantar Worldpanel figures.
Plum availability has been hampered by a lack of interest back in October and November when produce was coming in from mainly Spain and Italy, with even popular variety Angelino failing to make a good price.
“There was more on the market than we’d usually see, but prices were lower and quality was not a problem,” says one insider. “The market started to pick up about December time, when the first of the South African crop came in.”
The South African stonefruit crop came onto the market earlier than last year, which affected the crossover from European stock. According to the industry, plums came out particularly badly, with small sizes and mixed colouration causing problems when it came to sales. Retailers have been refusing product and there has been an influx onto the open market.
However, indications from South Africa are that after temperatures of up to 40°C in the first week of January and small fruit sizes, we should see more stonefruit in general, as well as larger sizes.
So far, volumes of South African plums have been favourable, but the heatwave that hit on 3 January and extremely tough marketing conditions - both currently and expected for the rest of the season - are the main reasons for adjusting the crop downwards.
Prices for plums have been generally low and the pace of sales has been slow due to particularly cold weather in a number of key markets for South Africa, not least the UK.
As for South African apricots and peaches, total volumes are slightly down on initial predictions. Some peach cultivars exported for canning, including Keisie, Sandvliet and Kakamas, have also been down.
So far this season, nectarine volumes have been satisfactory, but it has been indicated by the South African body behind the Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit promotional campaign, Hortgro Services, that previously estimated volumes will probably not materialise this season.
The export estimate has been adjusted downwards but it is still being described as a very good crop in terms of volume and quality. The recent heatwave will also cause a decrease on the volumes exported.
But there are some silver linings on the horizon for the stonefruit industry, with temperatures returning to normal in the UK’s preferred stonefruit source at this time, South Africa, and a bumper crop of cherries expected from Chile.
Cherries are increasingly becoming an important part of the stonefruit category, with the fruit taking 25 per cent of the market share in the UK, with a very healthy value growth of 12.4 per cent, compared to a five per cent decline in plums and a 13 per cent drop for peaches.
According to a report by Simfruit based on figures provided by the Chilean exporters’ association Asoex, cherry exports from Chile have increased by 71 per cent so far this season, with Europe receiving around 5mt. Chilean cherry growers expect to produce a record 55m kilos of product compared to almost half as much in the 2009-10 season.
Chilean nectarine exports are also up 17 per cent this season, at some 12,000t, according to Simfruit.
In general, Chile is expecting a good season for stonefruit, with the main volume expected on the UK market in the next couple of weeks. “There was a heatwave in the second week of January, but it looks like it will be a normal season,” says an insider. “There is more of a demand for stonefruit in summer and spring, but values are higher in winter and autumn. UK consumers like new season South African stonefruit, especially plum variety Laetitia, which is extremely popular as the stone is very small and therefore there is more flesh.”
SOUTH AFRICAN PR CAMPAIGN TO HIGHLIGHT BENEFITS OF STONEFRUIT
Against a backdrop of difficult weather conditions and small fruit sizes, South African Fruit’s Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit campaign takes the stage to boost consumption in the UK over the coming months. Elizabeth O’Keefe finds that the initiative has more than a few tricks up its sleeves.
It has not been a straightforward season for the South African stonefruit industry so far. The first week of January saw a heatwave hit South Africa, which has led to previously high volume forecasts for stonefruit being revised slightly downwards.
In general, the sector is expecting “tough marketing conditions” until the end of supply in March. Add to this the fact that according to Kantar Worldpanel, overall year-round stonefruit consumption has not really progressed over the last three years and that the winter and spring seasons are the poor relation when it comes to demand, and the South African stonefruit campaign has its work cut out.
The Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit initiative set out its promotional plans through PR agency Red Communications in mid-January, with more than a nod towards the challenges of the season past and present.
The activity sees South African stonefruit promoted in store and in the media, after the coldest December for more than 100 years in Britain and with a strong South African rand and generally tough market conditions predicted to prevail throughout the year.
In-store, PR and advertising activity for South African plums, peaches and nectarines is highlighting “the flavour, superior quality and season of particular varieties”, such as plum varieties Flavor King and Songold. This includes shopper sampling, advertising at the point of sale and in-pack information in four million punnets of fruit in several of the major multiples.
“A combination of factors, including the strength of the rand and
unseasonably high temperatures at source, will make this a particularly testing year for South African exporters,” says Anton Rabe, executive director of Hortgro Services, the growers’ organisation behind the campaign. “However, as we enter the second full year of our campaign we are feeling upbeat.”
The campaign has already made headway in the national media with a story that has been picked up by many journalists across the broadsheets and tabloids in the first couple of weeks of the year. This PR success was the news that eating pigmented fruit, like plums, peaches and nectarines, increases a yellow colouring in caucasian skin, therefore making people more attractive.
The research came from Dr Ian Stephen of the University of Bristol, who has released the findings at the same time as the campaign launch. The fact that Stephen believes he has proved the link between eating fresh produce and looking attractive to potential partners has been the talk of many a radio interview, press article and subject of new website
www.eatpigmentedfruit.com.
“The initiative is about highlighting the great quality fruit basket our country offers when it’s at its most delicious, as well as the benefits of buying South African fruit, from the point of view of freshness and eating ethically,” continues Rabe. “It shows our industry’s ongoing commitment to the UK market post-deregulation; and we know from experience that once you have established a strong identification and recognition among shoppers, it will stay with them for years to come.”
This year’s campaign has also been informed by the findings of shopper research it commissioned in 2010, which it has built on further with a quantitative study of the fruit purchasing habits of approximately 2,000 shoppers carried out at the end of the year.
The overall design of the campaign has been updated with new images of the country, new recipe photography and an update of the website, www.beautifulcountrybeautifulfruit.com.
In store promotion and a competition to win one of five holidays to South Africa will run across the stone- and top-fruit campaigns. Spokespeople Cook Yourself Thin’s Sophie Michell and A Place in the Sun’s Jasmine Harman are taking part for a further year, respectively contributing stone- and top-fruit recipes and demonstrations; and involvement in a film about the ethical side of the South African fruit business.
The second part of this year’s campaign will focus on top fruit and is scheduled to begin in March. To date, the campaign as a whole has been supported by nine of the UK supermarkets.
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