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English growers set to be stretched
United Kingdom
Monday 16 July 2007
English top-fruit growers are unlikely to be able to meet the demand of their multiple customers this season, despite encouraging early crop forecasts.
Support for domestic fruit, short in supply from the supermarkets until relatively recent years, has grown to unprecedented levels. And with planning already largely in place for the 2007-08 campaign, Yorkshire-based chains Asda and Morrisons, singled out as lagging behind their multiple rivals by English Apples & Pears (EAP), have both signalled their intention to come to the party.
Volumes are expected to rise across the portfolio of English varieties (see chart), although Barlow stressed that inconsistent weather patterns still pose a significant barrier to forming an accurate picture for a season that is still two months from hitting its straps. "The prospects for the crop are very good at this early stage," he added. "But it has to be added that there is always the potential for things to go badly wrong. Two growers in north Kent have had their entire crops wiped out by hail already and more hail and wind damage is a definite possibility before picking.
"The surge in demand is creating huge competition and all of the supermarkets are trying to source additional volume. It is an extraordinary turnaround compared to just three years ago and quite frankly, we may not be able to meet the demand that is out there."
Frost has chipped an estimated one million tons off the Polish crop, Hungary has lost around 60 per cent of its crop and weather problems in other eastern European production regions will mean severe shortages for the processing market and also the large fresh markets in Germany and the Czech Republic, Barlow said. This will take pressure off the UK market, as additional central European fruit will be diverted to those market places.
Support for domestic fruit, short in supply from the supermarkets until relatively recent years, has grown to unprecedented levels. And with planning already largely in place for the 2007-08 campaign, Yorkshire-based chains Asda and Morrisons, singled out as lagging behind their multiple rivals by English Apples & Pears (EAP), have both signalled their intention to come to the party.
Volumes are expected to rise across the portfolio of English varieties (see chart), although Barlow stressed that inconsistent weather patterns still pose a significant barrier to forming an accurate picture for a season that is still two months from hitting its straps. "The prospects for the crop are very good at this early stage," he added. "But it has to be added that there is always the potential for things to go badly wrong. Two growers in north Kent have had their entire crops wiped out by hail already and more hail and wind damage is a definite possibility before picking.
"The surge in demand is creating huge competition and all of the supermarkets are trying to source additional volume. It is an extraordinary turnaround compared to just three years ago and quite frankly, we may not be able to meet the demand that is out there."
Frost has chipped an estimated one million tons off the Polish crop, Hungary has lost around 60 per cent of its crop and weather problems in other eastern European production regions will mean severe shortages for the processing market and also the large fresh markets in Germany and the Czech Republic, Barlow said. This will take pressure off the UK market, as additional central European fruit will be diverted to those market places.
