FreshThinking

World Cup’s lasting legacy in South Africa

As the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa get underway, it’s interesting to note how, in two of the matches, a traditional European market is taking on a major South American fruit supplier, with Brazil against Holland and Germany meeting Argentina.

As in this business, there is much at stake: will the steady, experience traditions of Europe be able to tame the exuberance and flair of the Latins? On both sides of the Atlantic, the fresh produce sector will be watching and you can be certain that plenty of bets between suppliers and customers will be riding on these games. Some of the old continent’s football/fruit powerhouses have not made it – in England, France and Italy, the bubble has already burst – but in Spain, Holland and Germany the tension will be rising as the games get underway.

Whether it is Europe or South America which dominates this weekend, this World Cup is already a roaring success; Cape Town had already welcomed more than a million foreigners before the start of the last 16 matches. This weekend the ‘fan walk’ from the city will be buzzing with Argentine and German supporters, along with thousands upon thousands of Capetonians who will gather on the sidewalks along the route and drink some beers in the street cafés, just for the sake of being part of this fantastic event. For their part, local fruit traders along the route are rolling out their best products and the retailers in and around the stadia are reporting bumper times.

In Johannesburg, meanwhile, a million people are expected to parade the South African flag through the city this weekend and sing the anthem at regular intervals. Forget the fact that the local heroes Bafana Bafana are already watching the tournament from home – this is one proud nation which has received a new injection of the kind of rainbow spirit which Nelson Mandela brought with him when he swept into power in 1994.

Predictions of benefit to the local economy have been exceeded, with estimates that during the tournament alone R10bn will be injected into the local economy. The secondary benefits, in the form of increased tourism and other trade, are expected to last for at least a decade.

Most importantly, South Africa has proven the sceptics wrong and showed that it can host one of the world’s premier events. The pre-World Cup hype about security during the tournament and about crime has been proven wrong. Happy fans from all over the world are speaking with enthusiasm about their experiences and their intention to return to these shores again soon. The PR value for the South African fresh produce trade could arguably be likened to that enjoyed by Australia following the Sydney Olympics.

The events in and around Soccer City in Johannesburg, built in the townships built for black people during the apartheid era, have opened up these areas and broken down barriers between previously traditional ‘white’ and ‘black’ areas. Dancing in the streets and a pint of beer in the shebeen (as pubs in these parts are called) is now a common feature. South Africa’s rugby fraternity has also embraced this openness by playing two of the most important Southern Hemisphere rugby matches in the stadium.

So strong is the national pride now that Soccer City will next month host the rugby test match between South Africa and New Zealand, presenting the All Blacks with the frightening prospect of 90,000 South Africans from all parts of the country screaming and blowing their vuvuzelas.

There is a feeling of proud nationalism in South Africa today which most countries probably envy. The fruit growers and the thousands of people connected with the industry should continue to reap the benefits. Despite a crippling strike before the tournament and fears that shipments would be disrupted because of congestion in the main port cities, everything has been running smoothly.

So far, it has been a triumphant tournament for a country which has somehow been defying the odds ever since Mandela’s long walk to freedom began.

Solar-powered marketing is a bright idea

Summer is a great time to be alive, and the life-affirming spirit that pervades anywhere lucky enough to be blessed with a healthy dose of sunshine and warm temperatures is something upon which many in the fresh produce business should be looking to capitalise.

Take the 23 tonnes of strawberries sold during Wimbledon fortnight in the UK; or the vast quantities of succulent peaches and nectarines marketed to thirsty consumers on Italy’s Adriatic Riviera; or indeed the Chiquita bananas handed out to Greek consumers lying on the beach and trying to forget about taxes: all of these are examples of solar-powered marketing, and I believe the opportunities to engage consumers through seasonal campaigns will gradually increase across Europe in the coming years as our economies begin to settle down.

Since we are now all destined to work until well into old age, the chances are we’ll be looking to enjoy ourselves along the way – we’ll be after more convenience, reasonable prices and the best quality and taste possible – and summer will indeed be the time to make hay.

Not yet found your target market? Try some summery marketing (like Pink Lady’s new ads on p20 of Eurofruit Magazine’s July issue) and you may find you’re getting warmer.

At the recent Fresh Convenience Congress, a new event organised by Eurofruit Magazine and the Fresh Produce Journal for the international fresh convenience sector, we heard how the head chef at London’s Wembley Stadium had to ensure he had 1.5 tonnes of chopped fruit ready for three consecutive Take That concerts.

The sole reason? The fans at those three concerts (including my dear wife) love a bit of fruit in their Pimms. Once a brand has established a tradition, it can be a very powerful thing; us Brits wouldn’t dream of sipping Pimms without a slice of cucumber, a slice of orange, a strawberry or two and a sprig of mint. Perish the thought!

So here’s to boosting fruit sales and here’s to more sunshine!

Follow my updates at twitter.com/mike_eurofruit

Kiwis poised to change the business again?

Fresh produce industry historians, assuming they exist, may well look back in future years and decide that, yes, this was the week that changed the face of the international kiwifruit business forever.

On Monday, exporter Turners & Growers (T&G) fired the latest salvos in its bid to unseat Zespri as the sole export marketer for New Zealand kiwifruit, outlining its plans for the commercial development of its ENZARed-branded Hongyang variety worldwide and, for good measure, reminding the world of just who it was that coined the word ‘kiwifruit’ all the way back in 1959.For those that don’t know, it was T&G managing director Jack Turner, on the sound advice of one Mr Sondag of San Francisco-based importer Ziel & Co. During what was a pretty chilly episode of the Cold War, the term Chinese gooseberry didn’t exactly endear itself to US consumers, so the company began to seek out an alternative and briefly used the name Melonettes.

As it turned out, however, this fantastically Motown-esque moniker was just as poorly received among US importers as the previous one, mainly because melons and berries were both subject to high import tariffs.

So in June 1959, during a meeting of T&G management in Auckland, Jack Turner proposed the name kiwifruit. Had he thought to trademark the word, there might conceivably have been no call to regulate the New Zealand kiwifruit industry many years later in an attempt to distinguish the country’s production from other emerging suppliers like Chile.

The timing of T&G’s reminder about who coined the name kiwifruit is interesting. Last year, for the far more newsworthy 50th anniversary, there was very little fanfare in the New Zealand press, let alone the international media or indeed trade publications. As far as I can recall, no press releases about the anniversary were sent out. Unless 51 is a particularly auspicious age for Kiwis, then I think there are deeper motives on T&G’s part than simply celebrating a bygone marketing decision.

What this year’s announcement tells us is that T&G remains steadfast in its commitment to dismantling the current single-desk export system which employs Zespri to market its sales in the majority of markets overseas. Reminding the industry of its heritage as a kiwifruit exporter is intended to draw attention to the group’s own branded kiwifruit varieties and the potential it sees in sales not only of Chilean, South African and European production but also fruit grown in New Zealand.

As we wait patiently for the high court case between T&G and Zespri to resume next July, Zespri itself is looking to steal a march on its competitors by bringing as many as four new varieties into its portfolio. The decision on whether or not to approve each of these varieties – a sweet, early green, an early gold and two long-storing golds (one of which is pictured above) – for commercial release will be taken in the next 24 hours, before an official announcement is made at the company’s Mount Maunganui headquarters on Thursday.

For its part, Zespri has openly dismissed T&G’s plans for ENZARed, arguing there is nothing new in the group’s stated plan to market the variety worldwide. In essence, this has become a battle of the brands, and one in which the growers, rather than the consumers, have the ultimate say. Of course, consumers are where the money is and T&G would argue their varieties can generate excellent returns, but as it stands the majority of New Zealand’s growers are very much behind Zespri and believe its new varieties can help them grow.

As soon as they stop thinking that way, ENZARed may have its chance to shine.

World Cup offers feast of marketing opportunities

In commercial terms, the FIFA World Cup appears to be very much a private party, with a raft of high-profile sponsors paying top dollar for the privilege of associating their brands with a feast of football that will be devoured by billions of hungry fans across the globe.

But for companies in the fresh produce trade, generating demand on the back of the public’s enthusiasm for football needn’t be an impossible dream. Despite not having the kind of budgets that buy a place in the sponsors’ starting line-up, there is certainly space on the substitutes bench for marketers willing and able to think laterally.

Sure, you can’t put the words FIFA or World Cup on your products without paying millions, but that hasn’t stopped a whole squad of industry players from getting themselves a small share of the limelight this summer by running football-themed promotions.

Past masters
In the home of the current World Cup champions Italy, footballers already have a strong tradition of lending their support to companies in the fresh produce trade.

Fabio Cannavaro, the captain of the Azzurri who lifted the trophy at the end of the last World Cup final in Germany, recently joined fellow Juventus team-mate Claudio Marchisio to promote Melinda apples at the Cibus food and drink exhibition in Parma.

And last year another brace of Juventus stars, Amauri Carvalho de Oliveira and Hasan Salihamizic, teamed up with Italy’s largest soft fruit supplier Sant’Orsola to help promote their products.

Elsewhere, Italian marketing cooperative Conserve Italia has unveiled a new limited edition, football-themed fruit juice which it plans to sell throughout this year’s tournament. The pineapple and starfruit drink forms part of the company’s Derby Blue range, which is aimed at young consumers and which already includes pear and lemon, peach and orange, and apricot and mango mixes.

The beautiful game
Hosts South Africa, of course, are a major supplier of fresh produce to markets all over the world and, with the eyes of the world trained on the country for the next few weeks, many of its exporters are keen to capitalise on an expected spike in demand for all things South African – including fruit and vegetables.

The highest profile example of this has arguably been the recently launched Beautiful Country, Beautiful Fruit campaign, which is being rolled out in the UK and Germany to promote and support sales of plums, peaches, nectarines, apples, pears, grapes and grapefruit.

It’s certainly no coincidence that South Africa’s first country-based export promotion since deregulation has been started this year. Producers have been weighing up the benefits of running such a promotion for a few years and, by all accounts, were wary of missing out on such a golden opportunity to establish a strong reputation for South Africa as a source of quality fresh produce in 2010.

Meanwhile, apple and pear exporter Betko was one of the first South African exporters to take advantage of its homeland hosting the international football tournament when it first unveiled its Goal Fruit brand more than three years ago.

Since then, it has taken the brave step of developing and marketing this football-related brand in the UK, where it was officially launched in May with the help of local importer Poupart UK.

A sporting chance
For some companies in the fresh produce trade, the World Cup is providing an opportunity to underline their corporate social responsibility credentials.

Take the Stars in their Eyes Foundation, for example, a project established by Dutch company Cool Fresh International and South African supplier Star South Fruits, which aims to make a valuable contribution to the lives and welfare of workers in both the South African and Namibian fruit industries.

They have been able to use football as an instrument for positive change in terms of helping improve quality of life in South African townships, in one notable case offering local children a football training camp run by football legends Jay-Jay Okocha, Ruud Gullit and Daniel Amokachi.

Brand new goals
Several well-known brands within the fresh fruit and vegetable industry have been quick to latch onto consumer interest in the tournament.

In Germany, Chiquita has launched a major promotional push which will see it deliver specially designed, football-themed point-of-sale materials to all of its key customers around the country as it looks to capitalise on anticipated huge interest in the tournament.

German football legend Manfred Kaltz, famous for his curled, banana-esque crossfield passes, is set to feature in a consumer competition as part of the campaign, with promotional partners also standing the chance of winning prizes.

In the UK, Florette is targeting football enthusiasts with the launch of its England Three Lions Salad, a mix of Lollo rosso, frisee, radicchio and spinach leaves designed to suit all tastes.

And US-based branded nut supplier Wonderful Pistachios has proved it really is a game of two halves by introducing European consumers to a specially designed, football-shaped pack which splits into two bowls – one for the nuts and one for the empty shells. At €5 each, the product’s marketers will no doubt be hoping the matches do indeed go to extra time.

Is the future going to be pear-shaped?

Our story on Fruitnet.com today about the state of the pear business is bound to ring a few bells for those already charged with raising the profile – and sales – of the fresh pear category.

The Italians in particular, it seems, are worried about where the pear business is heading in Europe: sales are in decline, they say; consumption is down; and production itself is showing a downward trend, especially for summer varieties.

According to Marco Salvi, a well-known supplier in Italy, the prognosis is not good. “If we want to remain competitive we have to shift our strategy towards transforming the pear from a banal commodity to a product,” he told the MyFruit website.

A couple of months ago, Mr Salvi told Eurofruit Magazine that uniting behind a single brand could improve the commercial prospects of Italy’s unique Abate Fetel variety in much the same way that Portugal’s Rocha association or apple clubs like Pink Lady have done.

“I believe growers can get the best results from club products, as in the case of Pink Lady,” he said.

But while things may look less than rosy for the Italians, there are some very positive signs for the pear business elsewhere in the world. Take the Pear Bureau Northwest in the US, which has turned pear marketing into a fine art, with some excellent results in new markets like Asia and Russia.

Russia, which alongside China is one of only two major markets in the world currently showing an upward trend in terms of pear consumption, is also arguably the main reason why pears recently overtook apples as Argentina’s largest fruit export.

Portuguese Rocha pear exporters have done well by working together to promote a limited volume of their own unique variety under a single brand. This season, they’ve been building on a very successful 2008/09 campaign by developing their exports not only to the key European markets but also to places like Brazil, Canada, Russia and parts of Asia.

That, for me, is the key to saving the Italian pear: form a brand, build on your reputation and get your government to apply some pressure in big emerging markets in the same way that it has done for kiwifruit.

China, while clearly a difficult nut to crack, is not an impossible dream: Italian exporters now send kiwifruit direct to Shanghai, and what’s more the Belgian pear trade is this week also celebrating an initial breakthrough in its bid to supply the Asian country.

The future needn’t be pear-shaped!

Our names are just personal brands

My recent trip to New Zealand not only gave me a valuable opportunity to find out more about the country’s kiwifruit business, it also gave me a chance to meet someone I’ve been wanting to meet for a long time, namely Zespri shipping manager Mike Knowles.

It’s not every day you get to meet someone with the same first and last names – let alone a namesake working in the same industry as you – and suffice to say we got on extremely well, discovering a shared fondness for beer, sport and, of course, the fruit trade.

I spent an afternoon with Mike and his colleagues at the Port of Tauranga (he’s the one on the right of the picture, by the way), and as we watched pallets of kiwifruit being loaded onto a ship, I caught myself thinking momentarily about how important names really are.

My wife and I are expecting our first baby next month and, naturally, we are keen to come up with suitable names. The natural concern is to be sure our choices will match the baby’s character, but of course it’s probably more a case of the person growing up to suit the name.

Without wanting to stretch the analogy too far, I think that’s also the case with fresh produce brands. During my week-long stay in the Bay of Plenty, I was aware of how important the Zespri trademark has become to the New Zealand kiwifruit trade.

Here is a name the industry has grown accustomed to over time: since the industry’s new single-desk marketer was christened back in 1996, it has come to represent quality, care and commitment to providing the best possible service to growers and customers. The brand carries that promise and secures that reputation.

Like everyone, myself and Mike have sought to build reputations by providing people with the right level of service and quality, and our names are the personal brands that represent those values.

Of course, should my reputation as a journalist ever slip, I now have the added option of being able to send Mike into early retirement and start doing his job…

PepsiCo enters the fresh produce business

In ten years’ time, PepsiCo is going to be one of the world’s biggest suppliers of fruit and vegetables.

There, I’ve said it. Don’t believe me? Well how about checking out a report about the group’s sustainability policy which has just been published on the Guardian website.

Here’s an interesting excerpt:

On the health side, Pepsico’s vision is that by 2020 the company’s core business will be based on delivering fruit, vegetables, wholegrain and fibre. To achieve this it plans to change the existing products it is making as well as transform its portfolio towards healthier ranges “providing genuine nutritional benefit.”

Yep, that’s right. The company that brings you Pepsi cola (caffeinated corn syrup), Fritos crisps (potatoes covered in pork enzymes – yum!) and Tropicana orange juice (incidentally, invented by the same guy who supplied the original Waldorf salad) is now looking at getting a few more fruits and veggies into a portfolio that has often been criticised as unhealthy and downright gluttonous.

is setting what it refers to as big hairy audacious goals (otherwise known as ‘goals’) including reducing water consumption by half in its potato crisp production, as well as cutting the amount of gas and electricity consumed in the process.

What’s astounding for the fresh produce business – a business incidentally that at times seems to think its own sustainability is preordained – is that Pepsico is making all the right noises about being greener and more environmentally friendly.

On its website home page, in big bold letters, a message appears about World Water Day 2010 and the fact the company is “committed to bringing safe water to three million people by 2015″.

That’s just four and a half years down the line, so presumably it’s already got started?

Those within our industry who thought the carbon footprint was a fad have been proven wrong. It’s now a major factor in every major retailer’s strategic thinking and, for that reason, a key consideration for growers, suppliers and service providers.

Water is next. Stuart Orr of the WWF was saying exactly that two years ago at Eurofruit Magazine and Freshfel’s FRESH congress in Antwerp, and now it’s coming true.

William Todd, vice-president of sustainability at PepsiCo Europe, has this advice for businesses that have not yet taken sustainability seriously:

“I just think they are missing a huge opportunity in terms of productivity, employee engagement, employee pride, reducing reputational risk from regulators, and the community, as well as missing out on talent.”

Whatever you think about PepsiCo and its motivation for speaking so positively about sustainability, you have to admire its ability to move with the times and, in this case, actually invest in green issues.

It may just be paying these green issues lip service, but in doing so it sets an agenda which competitors have to give serious consideration to following.

Cherries on course for strong summer

For those able to supply significant volumes to the European cherry market over the next month, prices may well hold on this season and, with some nice weather, volumes should move through the market pretty well.

A lot depends of course on the overall level of supply from places like Turkey, Spain, Italy and California, and aside from the number of hours of sunshine we end up with, consumption levels and the amount of money consumers are willing to spend on food will be a big factor.

All the same, those who have managed to develop strong partnerships with European clients looking for the best varieties and constant sources of supply should have no trouble selling at a decent price.

Sadly for the Italians based down in Puglia, it looks like a certain proportion of their crop has disappeared this week as a result of heavy winds and rain that struck near Bari and Lecce.

Early production in the north-west US, meanwhile, is expected to be delayed slightly, with the result that harvesting in the region won’t really get going until the first week of June.

For Turkish cherry exporters like Alara, which has invested heavily in new production and is anticipating a 20 per cent increase in volumes this year, that can only be good news.

Once our glamorous Catalonian friends at SAT Edoa have sold all their big early cherries in Harrods, competition becomes very intense at the start of the season in Europe and markets like the UK and Germany are now seeing local production become much more of an influential factor.

In the UK, traditionally strong supplier France appears to be turning its attention to the tail-end of the season, unable to compete on price with stronger varieties out of California.

But there are also signs that French producers may be willing to take that competition head on – with the right varieties, the right quality and targeted promotion towards the upper end of the market, they could end up providing British cherry growers with an effervescent market to enter in June-July.

This year, however, the big question will be whether or not last year’s donwturn in consumption is repeated. If it is, then Turkey and the US may find themselves with plenty of product left to sell come the end of the summer.

Look out for our special feature on cherries, as well as a round table discussion on French summer fruits, in the June issue of Eurofruit Magazine. For details of how to subscribe, visit fruitnet.com/subscribe

Another Agrexco boycott story, this time in Italy

I’ve been working on an interesting story that’s developing in Italy – one that has a great deal of resonance in the UK and could potentially lead to other similar episodes elsewhere in Europe.

Basically, Pro-Palestinian groups are calling on the country’s supermarkets to ban all Agrexco/Carmel-branded products from Israel, after claiming to have convinced two retailers – Coop Italia and Nordiconad – to stop sourcing fresh produce from the West Bank settlements and the Golan Heights.

Here’s our official report on the story, with comments from Agrexco, Coop Italia and Nordiconad.

As it turns out, the two retailers don’t source from the Palestinian occupied territories anyway, but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily convinced that a ban on all Agrexco products is necessary.

We’ve also spoken to Agrexco and, as you would probably expect, they have completely refuted the claims.

Apofruit heads for the beach

Following the recent launch of its Frutta nelle Scuole (Fruit in Schools) initiative, Italian fresh produce company Apofruit Italia has unveiled a new project called Frutta in Spiaggia (Fruit on the Beach) in conjunction with its Almaverde Bio organics brand.

The project, officially unveiled today (21 May) at the Grand Hotel in Cesenatico, is designed to promote consumption of conveniently presented fresh, organic and geographically protected fruit in beach-side restaurants, bars and other locales in Emilia-Romagna.

The campaign is expected to involve distribution of the fruit packs in all of the major beach resorts along the Romagna stretch of Italy’s Adriatic coast.