Having been under pressure recently for failing to pull in the punters with promotions, the stonefruit category has hit back with steady growth in the last quarter thanks to one reliable stalwart and an outstanding star performer.
In the past 12 weeks, it is the cherry sector that has seen an upsurge in sales, helping the stonefruit sector end 2011 in a more positive position than it enjoyed for most of the past year.
Spend on cherries has soared 88.4 per cent and volumes have hit 60.8 per cent, leading to the fruit being credited for a rise in people making trips to the shops to buy stonefruit. On average, that figure has jumped from 10.3 trips per year to 10.7, Kantar Worldpanel figures show.
The gains made have come as retail managers have changed their tactics and switched volume-based deals, such as buy-one-get-one-free offers, for a greater number of temporary price deals.
One supplier said this was the correct approach because shoppers no longer simply want more, they want to pay less.
“It’s the right thing to do because a lot of that extra fruit isn’t getting eaten. The right price is probably what the deal is. Growers must be getting their money and for us, as a supplier, it is the right deal. It is genuine. Produce has got natural offers that have always been there.”
Another supplier put the growth down to a combination of factors. “In terms of the year, cherries have had a very good year. From a customer point of view we’ve seen the price offers having an effect. The state of the economy means we’re seeing more promotions than in the past. We’re now seeing mix and match deals and they’re diluting things because you get cherries and another product for, say, £3, and round price reductions are also becoming more popular.
“However, the deflation in price of cherries year-on-year is pulling customers in too.”
Over the last 20 years, cherries have experienced solid growth and, as more producers have begun growing them in the southern hemisphere, the historic gap in November and December has been plugged and prices remain more consistent.
Last quarter’s spike in success came as the UK crop stayed strong through to August and Spain, the second-largest producer of cherries in Europe, had a very successful campaign.
However, the understated lynchpin in the category is plums, which pulled in nearly half of all expenditure in the sector’s last quarter with £26.15m of £55.4m overall, despite spend falling 0.3 per cent and volumes dropping 8.3 per cent.
One commentator explained: “Angeleno plums coming from Italy were short last year but this year was extremely strong.”
Looking forward, wet weather in Spain means the early plums there will have to be watched and volumes are likely to be reduced, a situation that was not the case last year.
The fruit will also be slightly bigger, leading one supplier to suggest there will be more loose plums and less punnets.
There is already a good volume of plums but prices are slightly higher, whereas apricot prices are starting to fall as there are a lot around post-Christmas.
Once source added: “There’s currently a lot of added value in stonefruit with offers of tree ripe, ripe at home, ripe and ready and punnet volumes having driven the sector significantly, although not in cherries.”
The more positive sales figures come at a time of renewed optimism within the stonefruit sector. South African producers have planted a range of new varieties that are expected to give the industry a further boost by providing fruit that is better in taste, shelf-life and appearance, and will be more likely to bring shoppers back into the category.
With more shoppers already being drawn to the category, and the latest quarter results showing real promise, the stonefruit sector could be about to enter a real period of growth. -
PROMOTING THE ETHICAL MESSAGE
The South African fruit industry is putting a strong emphasis on ethical trading in its promotional campaigns this year
The ethical attributes of South African fruit will be increasingly communicated to shoppers with the launch of this year’s campaigns to promote fresh produce from the country.
The associations that represent the stonefruit, top-fruit and grape industries in South Africa will be promoting previously low profile projects, where industry and the government have been working to progress the career opportunities of black workers and provide support for their families.
The Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit campaign, which has just begun its fourth successive season in the UK market on plums, and third on peaches and nectarines, is this year promoting messages about the role of the fruit industry in development and progressing equality in the country, with projects that include the launch of a competition to encourage UK children to find out about South African schools, and support them by donating reading and textbooks.
Meanwhile, the South African Table Grape Industry association (SATI) is rolling out a QR code-based programme in the UK press, which details the important role of grape farming in the social-economic development of the country since the end of apartheid. The grape industry is one of the frontrunners in the introduction of so-called ‘transformation’ projects, where previously disadvantaged groups of workers have begun to get involved in the management and part-ownership of farms.
A series of advertorial articles will appear in national newspaper supplements and other magazines during January and February, focusing on the story of one of the grape industry’s successful new farm managers. A QR code at the bottom of each article invites readers to scan and find out more about transformation in the grape industry; the first 100 shoppers to do so will receive £20 shopping vouchers at the supermarket of their choice.
Phil Bowes, transformation manager at SATI, said: “The South African table grape industry is proud of the leading role it has taken in implementing transformation projects - and South Africa is one of, if not the only, emerging economy growing grapes that can boast this ethical story on a reasonable scale.
“Fruit that is ethically traded is increasingly important to shoppers and retailers, particularly in markets such as the UK and Germany, where it can have a significant influence on purchases. Until now, we have not actively promoted this work to customers overseas, so we are really pleased to launch this initiative to begin to inform shoppers that buying South African fruit is a great way to help support development in the country.
“This is very much a first step, which we’d like to build on in seasons to come with initiatives to communicate these messages in stores as well as in the media.”
The SATI project adds to the launch in October of last year of Fruit South Africa’s ethical trade programme. This project sees the industry police its own ethical practices through third-party audits, training material and the development of tools to increase awareness and improvement in labour practices. It is a collaboration of the South African fruit industry, including producers, exporters and trade bodies - as well as government, local and international retailers.
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