March and April are notoriously difficult months for the stonefruit fraternity. While the tail end of southern-hemisphere supplies dwindles to a halt, it is still too early for most importers to willingly make any firm predictions as to the state of northern-hemisphere crops when they eventually come on stream.
The last few containers of South African plums hit UK shores last week, but peach supplies from the same source have now tailed off. The plums are bearing typical signs of end-of-season quality, according to insiders, with mis-coloration and internal breakdown - however, overall, it has been a strong season. Rains during production delayed packing and shipping, but fruit quality was good, and yellow plums helped rejuvenate the category somewhat.
One importer says: “We had some hiccups early on in the South African peach, plum and nectarine season, with rain around November, but otherwise the season has been good. There were no specific problems from Chile either, other than spot issues with volumes and availability.”
Nectarines and plums from Chile are still arriving in dribs and drabs, although the season is definitely on its last legs. The Australian season is set to continue a little later than those of its southern-hemisphere counterparts, and yellow- and white-fleshed peaches and nectarines from the country are still coming into the UK. Plums from the southern hemisphere are expected to maintain UK market presence until the end of March or beginning of April.
The South American cherry season has been exceptionally strong this quarter, with Argentine shipments drying up at the end of February and start of March. New packs, price promotions in the run-up to Christmas and half-price deals helped boost sales of Argentine and Chilean fruit.
Stonefruit sales during the southern-hemisphere season have by all accounts continued to increase in 2007-08, with cherries and perfectly ripe fruit making good inroads into the market. “There is still a way to go to educate consumers about eating stonefruit outside the European season, but they are now more aware than ever, so hopefully the process will continue,” says one insider.
But others are less optimistic for the future of southern-hemisphere stonefruit in the UK. “The emergence of other markets such as Russia, central Europe and the Middle East means more stonefruit growers - as well as growers of other fruits and vegetables - are moving fruit there, instead of to the UK,” says one importer. “During the early to middle part of the Chilean season, we were chasing tails of supply and volumes into the UK were down.”
Although demand for southern-hemisphere stonefruit is rising, say insiders, the increasing amount of accreditation exporters have to achieve to supply the UK market means other markets in the rest of Europe, which may pay the same but do not demand the same certification hurdles, are becoming more attractive prospects. “This will be an ongoing problem,” says one insider. “Nobody has any stock hanging around at the moment - for example, we are now waiting for nectarines to come in to pack first thing tomorrow. We have been honest with our customers and told them about the pressures on margins. For example, the Chileans would rather send to Central or North America, and they have a big market in Asia as well. But it’s the usual story - the UK retailers won’t budge.”
One side effect of keeping stock rolling through stores quickly has been an improvement in quality, according to one importer. “We are not sitting on stock as we have been in previous years, so quality is very fresh,” he says.
Importers are now predicting an imminent gap on peaches until the last few days of March, when early supplies from Egypt will come on stream. “The weather has been okay in Egypt, but there have been some mild evenings which may delay budding and cutting by a few days,” says one importer. “However, we are looking at a good crop from Egypt - in the last two to three years, volumes from the country have really come on, although varieties tend to still consist of Florida Prince and Desert Red. But by the second or third week of April, it should be full steam ahead with Egyptian peaches, until mid-May.”
A cautious optimism pervades the upcoming northern-hemisphere season. Importers generally have high hopes of the Egyptian and Mexican peach season, and some are looking at bringing in residue-free fruit.
Suppliers are also gearing up for the European season, which is due to kick off with early peach supplies from Spain in the first week of May. Italian peach is due to come on stream at the end of May, along with the first arrivals of the Spanish plum crop. Spanish nectarines are due to make an appearance towards mid-May, while Italian product will arrive at the start of June. Italian plums will not be available until the end of August.
One importer explains: “It is a bit too early to make any predictions for the European season. We had some ups and downs with the spring weather, and fruit needs to start flowering before we get a very good indication.”
But others are more optimistic. “At the moment, the European crop looks good,” says one firm. “Spain has had a very mild winter, so fruit has been flowering in advance - what everyone is now hoping is there are no cold snaps or hail storms, as this would decimate early crops. At the moment, the crucial period for weather that we are looking out for is mid-March to the end of the month, and everyone is playing a waiting game.”
CHERRY PROMO BLOOMS FOR CHILE
the uk is the most important market in the EU for Chilean cherry exporters, writes Eduardo Castro de la Barra from shipper San Francisco Lo Garces. In 2007-08, some 504,069 cartons of Chilean cherries were sent to the UK, out of a total of 1.8 million boxes sent to the whole EU market - in other words, the UK has 28 per cent of European market share for Chilean cherries. Exports to the UK increased by 79.23 per cent year on year in 2007-08.
The season has just ended, and we had some good weather for production. There were more than enough chill hours across all cherry varieties during the winter months and, in the spring, the bloom was good and very consistent in terms of flowers - trees were full of flowers in just one week. Temperatures during the bloom period were good, but then temperatures were low until October. Weather was as we expected in November and December, although January and February have been warmer than expected.
The main challenge facing Chilean cherry exporters is the length of the season. We have good, retail-worthy product for 14 weeks, but it is hard to keep volumes to far-away markets consistent. We also have to continue with our promotions, and assure consumers that Chilean cherries are produced to high food-safety levels.
Cherries are the jewels of the fruit world - when the quality is right, no one can resist buying a bag or bunch of cherries on impulse, and UK consumers are no exception to this rule. For the first time this season, the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) organised a UK consumer campaign to boost sales of cherries. The industry has more than quadrupled in size over the last 10 years, following the introduction of new varieties which have extended the production window. During the past three seasons ( not including 2007-08), exports to the UK grew by 133 per cent, from 600 tonnes in 2003-04 to 1,400t in 2006-07.
The Cherries...Love, Health & Happiness campaign ran throughout January, and comprised in-store activities and through-the-line advertorials in national consumer publications. The scheme aimed to raise public awareness of their availability, and their health benefits.
The campaign got underway in December with advertorials in national food and health magazines such as Top Santé and Delicious, and also a feature in the January-February 2008 edition of Asda Magazine, which has a readership of 5m. There was a free prize draw to benefit retailers selling Chilean cherries, and consumers entered by mailing in proof of purchase. The winner scooped a luxury seven-night trip to Chile.
In January, there was in-store promotional activity in nearly 300 branches of Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's, including trolley posters, in-store sampling, point-of-sale graphics and promotional information leaflets. Christian Carvajal, CFFA European-Asian marketing manager, said: "We were really focused on communicating the fact that Chilean cherries are available during the peak of our season. All our in-store activity was designed to drive impulse purchases, as well as support our main stakeholders, namely the retailers and importers."
The fruit received an excellent reception when sampled, and approximately nine out of 10 consumers who tried them then purchased the cherries. Consumer feedback indicated that fruit was sweet and crunchy, and most felt the cherries were very good for this time of year. Feedback also suggested that the half-price message worked well. Most customers commented that they perceived cherries as a special treat, and liked to indulge as often as possible because they were healthy as well.
The cherry campaign was supported by 10 exporters and ran alongside a blueberry promotion. Chile's most popular cherry is the Bing, although there are more than 20 types, including Lapins and Sweethearts, the second- and third-biggest sellers respectively. Most of the varieties were introduced to Chile from Canada.
The main market for Chilean cherries is the US. The country’s cherry industry, which stretches from the central Metropolitan Region, where Santiago is, to the Tenth Region in the south, exports around 24,000t of fruit a year.
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