The strict standards of the UK supermarkets have undoubtedly raised the bar for fresh produce suppliers around the world and, while Almería leads the way in the cucumber and capsicum fields, the supply-chain standards and food-safety issues that are so important to the region’s top international customers are foremost in the minds of its producers.
Not content to sit back and enjoy its leadership position, the region has responded to the increasing competition in major markets by upping its own performance levels and diverting some of its attention away from core lines to the speciality varieties that can add value to the consumer.
The Almerían industry has undergone a necessary period of consolidation and realignment, in order to improve its suitability to service its major international markets and customers. Significant in this are links with UK importers. Most of these have representatives working for much of the year in the fields and packhouses of Almería to add consistent guidance to their grower partners. This has ensured that the region’s industry has maintained its position at the top of the salad tree into the 21st century. There is a regional recognition that, illustrating an ability to meet the exacting standards of the UK market opens up potential in markets around the world.
But adhering to standards and providing top-notch products is not enough on its own.
Of course, Almerían growers’ mentality is to produce the highest quality cues and peppers. Quality is a given in the modern fresh produce climate. The last few years, however, have been characterised by the addition of a new, innovative mentality - one which embraces change and forward-thinking and allows the region to both discover new opportunities and take advantage of them when they arise.
The ability to innovate is a key element of retaining the business that Almería has created for itself during the last half a century and more. Mapping out far-reaching development plans is seen as a crucial, attacking, competitive option, but the region also recognises that the cliché that attack is the best form of defence has particular resonance in the prevailing commercial environment.
Drawing on feedback from UK customers growers in Almería have spent the last few years enhancing their research and development prowess, and putting the mechanisms in place that allow them to decipher which are the best varieties for them to produce.
There is a lot more to working with supermarket customers now than simply filling the shelves with product. The traditional buyer questions started and ended with “what and how much have you got?” Not any more. Planning has become a long-term job and growers have to take into account market trends. Taste, added value, disease resistance and shelf-life potential have all been added to the initial volume and price query, not to mention the upholding of various standards throughout the supply chain.
This has of course led to far more co-operation between supermarkets, distributors, growers and seedhouses. Almería’s growers have shown themselves to be willing and able to play their full part and in many areas, lead this process. Eventually of course, this is helpful to every member of the supply-chain partnership, including the grower who has a crop that suits his customer’s needs and is therefore more marketable.
The UK pepper market has expanded significantly in the last 10 years and consumer penetration and frequency of purchase has increased as the category offer has exploded to meet demand. Penetration is at around 65 per cent and the colourful nature of peppers lends the sector the opportunity to provide new and interesting varieties that differentiate themselves prior to tasting.
The market therefore is still growing, and particularly the red, yellow and orange segments. The growth of sales of green peppers - the staple line that producers grew their business on in the early days - has slowed, but the introduction of the traffic light concept of red, yellow and green peppers in mixed multi-packs, as well as orange product, has continued to expand the category in the UK supermarkets.
Speciality lines can also provide a welcome point of difference in overcrowded produce aisles. And for capsicum, in particular, the offer continues to grow. From little-known brown, lilac, purple and even white bell peppers, to sweet pointed peppers such as Ramiro and baby bell variety, Tinkerbell, the capsicum range is crammed full of product to suit more-or-less every taste and need.
Almería grows the full basket of varieties and trials to try to find new varieties that will suit the UK market will continue ad infinitum. A deep understanding of the UK consumer is vital. In the past, Spaniards have viewed peppers more as an ingredient in a cooked meal and rarely used the product in salads - which is the mirror image of the development of the pepper in the UK, where the product has only developed a new usage profile in the last five years.
Factors affecting the pepper-purchasing decision have also altered irrevocably. Whereas UK consumers viewed the product as a luxury item in its formative years, year-round, high-volume availability has transformed peppers into a staple food, They are now a regular inclusion in the nation’s shopping baskets.
Speciality peppers may not be ready to remove the crown from the bell pepper just yet, but there are many new products lurking behind the scenes, and expansion of the speciality market is likely to stimulate growth for the entire category. One of the focal points of the Foods from Spain promotional effort with peppers will be to encourage consumers to exercise flexibility in the way they think about the range of products on offer. Some of the new, sweeter varieties could make inroads in the snacking market, for instance, an area that holds huge potential for well-merchandised products. Tinkerbell and Sweet Bite have as yet not managed to capture the consumer imagination they deserve, but a concerted and targeted push could make all the difference.
The drive to introduce new varieties has been accompanied by exhaustive work to extend what were traditionally seen as the natural shoulders of the season. Competitor sources have the same varieties available to them, but Almerían producers have analysed the windows of opportunity that are available and will continue to develop their supply calendar to ensure that no area of potential is missed.
The change in cucumbers, as it is around Europe, has been more gradual. To date, consumers’ awareness of the variety of cucumber they are buying is extremely low. When compared with the tomato sector, in which segmentation has been used effectively to introduce large numbers of new varieties into the consumer psyche, to most a cucumber is a cucumber is a cucumber.
Sales of classic cucumbers have remained virtually static in the UK and the introduction of the midi, baby and even some Asiatic types has yet to capture the consumer’s imagination sufficiently to establish any of them as an integral part of the salad catalogue. The retail range, in most cases, still consists of the classic whole or half cucumber.
That is likely to change, but in itself the fact that cucumbers are a fairly standard product has advantages. It throws up challenges to growers, suppliers and supermarkets that may wish to differentiate their cucumber offer from the competitors.
There are roughly 20 varieties of cucumber with commercial potential, the main two grown in Almería being Mustang and Corona. There is a difference in switching varieties of cucumbers when compared to many products because the distinction between the taste of individual cucumber varieties tends to be more subtle. Therefore, attention switches to attributes at various stages of the chain; to discovering a strain that is more resistant to disease, or a variety that holds up better during the field-to-shelf processes and offers better shelf-life potential, for example.
Research in the UK has shown a distinct difference in attitude between the under-35 and over-35 age groups. The older age-group appears to be satisfied with the classic cucumber sliced within salads or sandwiches and not especially interested in an expanded range or change of taste. However, the younger generation professes to be looking for something different, an easily prepared, sweet, one-bite crunchy textured cucumber.
New product development teams in Spain are working constantly with their UK partners to ensure that their portfolio continues to address the needs of their most important export market.
WHAT THE CONSUMER WANTS
• Peppers have a high vitamin content - in the case of orange, red and yellow peppers, they contain three times more Vitamin C than a fresh orange.
• Pepper-buying households make a purchase on average once every every five weeks
• An estimated nine million UK homes have not yet bought peppers, illustrating the huge potential for future growth.
• Penetration in the UK lags behind other parts of Europe.
• Purchases could be promoted by offering consumers more creative ideas on usage and recipes on-pack
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