This year’s summer may have been a damp squib, but stonefruit sales still took off in the UK this year.
Retail suppliers reported a rise in imported European stonefruit volumes and value for the summer season to date, despite the lacklustre July and August British weather.
Growth was driven mainly by sales within the cherry and peach categories, with the surge largely powered by lower retail prices than last year.
“We have seen a growth in volume and value for the [European] summer stonefruit season to date,” says Jon Clark, commercial director at Total Cherry. “Prices in general have been lower on a pound basis, and we have seen strong early-season activity on stonefruit in Tesco, followed by strong promotional deals in Aldi, The Co-operative, Morrisons and Asda.”
Suppliers’ experiences are reflected in Kantar Worldpanel figures, which record a 3.5 per cent rise in stonefruit volume sales this year to mid-August compared to last. The market, worth some £390 million, grew in value terms too this year, by 1.2 per cent, or £4.6m.
Overall stonefruit availability and quality from Europe has been good this summer, say suppliers, although storms reduced the Spanish Picota cherry crop and affected shelf life, which resulted in more stemmed fruit arriving into the UK from Greece and Turkey. Spanish peaches, meanwhile, enjoyed a sales resurgence in the UK this summer, suppliers report, bucking several years of decline.
At the same time, UK demand for domestic stonefruit – cherries, apricots and plums – has exceeded supply in all quarters, according to Clark. “It has been a great season for UK growers, retailers and consumers,” he says. “The quality has been exceptional, with growers benefitting from a longer growing season, hanging the fruit on the trees for longer, which has delivered great-tasting fruit.”
Paul Mansfield of Kent-based grower FW Mansfield & Son agrees: “Certainly for ourselves the UK cherry season has been excellent, with Kordia in particular performing superbly,” he says. “Cherry sales have been brisk in spite of inclement July-August weather, and we feel that is down to consumer confidence in the product.”
The UK stonefruit category is benefiting from a consumer push to eat local, suppliers note. And growers are responding by offering British shoppers great-tasting varieties.
“Thanks to a long-term focus on varietal development, rootstocks, covering, fertigation and hard work in the field there is greater consistency in eating quality, shelf life, dark colour and large size that leads customers to purchase our cherries repeatedly,” Mansfield adds.
Nevertheless, some UK retailers are reluctant to stock some of the new and exciting stonefruit varieties coming into commercial production abroad for one simple reason – price.
“We are in a catch-22,” says Clark. “The consumer wants new great-tasting varieties, but the fear from a large number of retailers is that the price that is required, following the investment in those varieties, is something the consumer will not pay. While the stand-off happens for the UK, the rest of the world is clamouring to get the fruit.”
Price is of the essence where UK retailers and European stonefruit is concerned. It’s a tough category, distributors agree, with consumer-friendly values that aren’t so appealing to growers, many of whom are reeling from their second consecutive year of low returns on crops that require high investment.
Italian producer groups this year complained of rock-bottom prices and saturated markets across Europe. Last season, meanwhile, was ruined by oversupply, miserable weather and finally Russia’s ban on EU produce.
However, the weak euro has helped ease the burden for those European growers supplying the UK this season. “A weaker euro has meant the grower return has not been as badly affected as the retail prices would suggest,” says Clark.
Spain has surged ahead of Italy and France to become the dominant European stonefruit supplier to the UK in recent years, according to Clark. This is thanks to varietal development and season length, as well as promotional activities.
