In the Journal for 19th May 2023 The English Apple debated the future prosperity (?) of UK apple growers, and said; "Probably the only home grown apples able to earn a small profit at the moment are the Branded Club varieties. Like Jazz and Pink Lady".
Click on: English Apple Man Journal - 29/12/2023 - THE FUTURE
Poignantly - an article in The Fresh Produce Magazine by Fred Searle discusses the very subject of Branded varieties...
"For decades, own-label has dominated the fresh fruit and vegetable aisle at Britain's top supermarkets. But now high costs and tough market conditions are putting huge pressure on margins. So is own-label still the only game in town?
Shoppers like brands. They like food and drink brands too, but they almost never find them in the fresh produce section. We want to know if fresh fruit and vegetable brands can play a bigger role in future".
'The Power of Branding' is a new section of our website. Right here, over the next several months, we're looking at the new importance of brands for the fresh produce business in the UK.
A brand-new video series from FPJ in collaboration with Coregeo showcases the potential of branding for fresh produce marketers
The English Apple Man takes a look at the World Apple and Pear Association latest data
The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) has updated its figures for northern hemisphere apple and pear stocks, showing that, as of the start of January total European apple stocks were down 4.6% compared to the same time last year, at 4,035,178 tonnes.
The UK showed the biggest drop, down 31.3% at 77,209 tonnes (compared to 112,368 tonnes in January 2023). Other significant declines were shown by the Czech Republic (down 29.8%), Austria (down 21.4%), the Netherlands (down 22.7%), Germany (down 22.0%) and Denmark (down 21.0%). The two countries with the largest stocks were Italy at 1,215,750 tonnes (up 4.8% on 2023) and Poland at 1,095,000 tonnes (down 13.0%).
Pears showed a similar overall trend, with European stocks down 4.4% on January 2023 at 582,587 tonnes. Danish product was almost completely wiped out (from 244 tonnes in 2023 to just two tonnes in January 2024), while Switzerland (down 35.2%) and Poland (down 18.1%) also showed significant declines in stock. The UK figure for January 2024 was effectively unchanged on the previous year at 6,709 tonnes.
The influence of Branding and Club varieties is a global phenomena, with breeders and marketeers searching for that very special point of difference! Journalist Mike Knowles researched and wrote a very interesting article for FRUITNET Magazine which published the efforts of two major Italian marketing groups.
Click on: FRUITNET
Two Italian Marketing groups Vip and Vog are two of the largest apple exporters, Vip and Vog,
Some of the Branded Varieties
Cosmic Crisp is a standout example of how fast this trend is taking shape. Only just recently, the companies brought it to Europe and started to produce it under licence, after it was bred and planted widely in Washington State during the last decade.
The English Apple Man became familiar with Branding when, as part of the technical team at Worldwide Fruit Ltd circa 25 years ago when we brought Jazz to the UK and established it as the first Club apple to be grown under licence by Fruition Growers (grower share holders in WFL) - Today Jazz is one of the top varieties grown here and with Jazz from New Zealand and other global sources is an established and highly successful Brand available 12 months of the year
Worldwide Fruit Ltd is now one of two licensed UK companies building a supply of UK grown Pink Lady to UK Supermarkets.
That is all for this week
Take care
The English Apple Man