<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
    xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">
	<channel>
<title>Eurofruit Magazine RSS Feed</title><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/index.html</link><description>Fresh comment from Eurofruit Magazine</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><dc:rights>&#xa9; Market Intelligence Ltd</dc:rights><dc:date>2008-04-01T11:52:24+01:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
<admin:errorReportsTo rdf:resource="mailto:michael@fruitnet.com" /><sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
<sy:updateBase>2000-01-01T12:00+00:00</sy:updateBase>
<lastBuildDate>Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:04:42 +0100</lastBuildDate><item><title>It&#x27;s time the berry trade called for back-up</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-04-01T11:52:24+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/time-berry-called-back.html#unique-entry-id-28</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/time-berry-called-back.html#unique-entry-id-28</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

Go on. Have a bowl of goji berries, then come back and tell me whether or not you feel any healthier.  Not sure?  Surely the fact that a whole gaggle of celebrities is raving about how great berries are is proof enough?  No?  Madonna is telling anyone who cares to listen that she can&rsquo;t get enough of those wonderful Himalayan goji berries.  Apparently, they can improve your eyesight and circulation, protect your liver, cleanse your aura, wash your car, tidy your room, clean your teeth and comb your hair.  One report even suggests they boost your sperm count.  Hmm, perhaps Madonna isn&rsquo;t telling us everything.  Assuming it&rsquo;s all true, though, I&rsquo;m going to stop writing, call my bank and tell them to invest all my money in this amazing product.

But wait, it turns out the evidence is not so clear-cut.  In fact, there is no clinical study or regulatory authority that has scientifically verified the claims made about goji berries.  For the berry sector as a whole, health claims &ndash; some of which are indeed backed by real scientific research &ndash; have made the job of marketing fruits like raspberries, blueberries and blackberries to increasingly health-conscious consumers much easier over the past few years.  But the science needs to be developed further.  At the beginning of October, UK drinks company Innocent was told to withdraw an advert in which it described its acai berry, pomegranate and blueberry drink as a &ldquo;natural detox superfoods smoothie&rdquo; that could completely remove toxins from the body.  The country&rsquo;s Advertising Standards Authority said Innocent had not proved the claim, adding that it had failed to back another claim that the drink had more anti-oxidants than the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day.

What the research needs to show is what effect the high levels of anti-oxidants found in fruits such as blueberries and blackberries actually have on the human body.  As nutritionist Catherine Collins told a BBC investigation in February: &ldquo;Just because something is a superfood in a test tube, it doesn&rsquo;t make it a superfood in us.&rdquo; Along the right lines is new research published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences just last month.  This evaluated the ability of ellagic acid in berries to reduce DNA damage, which can lead to cancer.  The study found that eating blueberries and strawberries led to moderate reductions in such damage, but for raspberries the effect was even more pronounced, with DNA damage reduced by 59 per cent.

Only by backing up its health claims with more indisputable evidence will the berry sector be able to sustain its recent staggering growth.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Small may be beautiful&#x2c; but big is better</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-03-01T17:43:06+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/small_beautiful_big_better.html#unique-entry-id-27</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/small_beautiful_big_better.html#unique-entry-id-27</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

We like to think we are a resourceful bunch here at Eurofruit Magazine, so when it came to working out how on earth we would manage to get around all 25 of Fruit Logistica's exhibition halls, on what has become the fresh produce trade's equivalent of the grand tour, in just three days, we decided to adopt the sensible approach: run for the hills, hide, then wait for it to all be over.

Only kidding, of course!  While the event must certainly be daunting for those who've never been before, the fact that you have so much of the trade together in one place is one of the event's greatest assets and should not be overlooked.  With a little forward planning, it needn't be that overwhelming.  This year's Berlin bonanza may have been the biggest ever, but it was also the best ever, and we certainly weren't going to be beaten.  We divided and, to the best of our abilities, attempted to conquer.

A major consequence of Fruit Logistica's phenomenal expansion during recent years has been, in my opinion, a greater emphasis on the need for imaginative and innovative marketing.  Quite simply, if you&rsquo;re standing in a crowded room, you'll have to shout louder than if there were only a handful of people around you.  How else do you explain Padua Wholesale Market's incredible stand, which was done up like a Venetian palazzo?  Not for them the safe chrome and frosted glass combination so beloved of many exhibitors, including ourselves.  In terms of sheer marketing impact, the loudest companies were the one which unveiled Australian finger limes and said they were &ldquo;citrus caviar&rdquo;, and the team behind Fruitness enjoy it!, which employed a male model to dress up as superhero Mr Fruitness.  He didn&rsquo;t say much, but when you&rsquo;re dressed in green lycra and a laurel wreath, you don&rsquo;t have to really.

Of course, many exhibitors still plump for that old faithful of the fresh produce trade: busty ladies in skimpy dresses, on hand ostensibly to take messages, serve drinks and keep that importer amused for five minutes while the supplier he's supposed to be meeting seals a 12-month listing with Tesco.  How those ladies kept a straight face wandering round with the word 'melons' emblazoned across their chests is beyond me, not that I was complaining.

After three days of journalistic hunting and gathering, our carefully plotted excursion around the world of fresh produce had become something of a mental safari.  Next year, thank goodness, we&rsquo;ll have the whole weekend to recover&hellip;]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>My &#x27;baby bife&#x27; eats burgers for breakfast</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-02-01T16:33:02+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/baby_bife_burgers_breakfast.html#unique-entry-id-26</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/baby_bife_burgers_breakfast.html#unique-entry-id-26</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

It may surprise you to learn that one of my abiding memories from last year&rsquo;s Southern Hemisphere Congress in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires was not the conference, but the decision of one gentleman (who shall remain nameless for now) to slip away from a group of 30 or so delegates on a tour of the local Wal-Mart Supercenter in order to bag himself a hamburger with fries and coke.  What made this act of burger bravado all the more stunning was the fact that this man&rsquo;s day job is to promote health and nutrition through the development and expansion of the fresh produce trade.  How can we expect to rein in the bulging waistlines of this world when the finest marketing minds in fresh produce are filling themselves full of fast food?  Ok, so there was lettuce under that bun, but that&rsquo;s hardly a salad.

Of course, my initial reaction as a professional journalist was to photograph the offender and question him about his choice of lunch.  But then I began to realise that it probably wasn't fair to single out one person and blame him for all that's wrong with our diets.  It also dawned on me that, since I had arrived in Argentina, I had eaten steak for dinner five nights out of five.  That very evening, my meat eating broke new records when I polished off the entirely inappropriately named &lsquo;baby bife&rsquo; steak, which weighed in at approximately 800g.  It was so big, it would have eaten the burger for breakfast.  In short, who was I to judge?

Consumption habits won&rsquo;t change overnight, nor should we expect everyone to abandon the fast food restaurants completely.  But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be pressing ahead with schemes aimed at encouraging greater consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Next year, a new pan-European scheme to provide schoolchildren with free portions of fruit is expected to get off the ground at last.  Our special report on this and several other consumption schemes already in operation across Europe can be found on p22-23 of this issue.

In the meantime, I will be hanging my head in shame and attempting to burn off that baby bife.  At this month's Fruit Logistica trade show in Berlin, I hope to catch up with the burger-eating delegate and see how he&rsquo;s been faring since Christmas.  Maybe he has managed to avoid the fast food outlets since then, or perhaps switch to one of their healthier options.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Europe must weigh up its options on the Euro</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-01-01T09:54:42+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/europe_weigh_options_on_euro.html#unique-entry-id-25</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/europe_weigh_options_on_euro.html#unique-entry-id-25</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

Currency is very much a current affair for the fresh produce trade in Europe.  Strip away all the marketing initiatives and public relations drives, the traceability and agricultural certification schemes, the research and development spending and the fancy packaging, and what you have left is a simple transaction by which a supplier is looking to earn a certain return.  Spending a bit extra on such things might of course guarantee a better return, but the thing that makes or breaks the whole deal is what the various players in the chain ultimately earn.

When several of the European Union&rsquo;s member states adopted the euro, what very few people accounted for was the fact that exchange rates would still have a massive impact on trade in Europe, particular where currencies like the dollar and the euro ended up being under- or overvalued.  Europe is now playing a waiting game.  Will we see an influx of fruit into the market this season as overseas suppliers divert their produce from markets paying in dollars?  Only time will tell.

In the past, exchange rates used to have a big influence on the nature of the European fresh produce trade.  The Italian lira, for example, was so weak that, to a certain extent, it helped Italian exporters maintain their competitive position in the market.  Of course, its products had a reputation for quality too, but money made their world go round just that bit more smoothly.  That competitive advantage is now gone.  Its biggest competitor, Spain, now sells its wares on a level playing field, and has made up a lot of ground as a result.

As we head into a particularly uncertain 2008, suppliers must resist cashing in on the short-term benefits of currency fluctuations, because what will actually make or break companies in the long run is service to the customer and the strength of their long-term partnerships.

What&rsquo;s more, everything could look completely different in a year&rsquo;s time.  Economics has a marvellous way of straightening itself out, albeit through painful correction from time to time.  Consult two economists and you&rsquo;ll get three opinions on what will happen in the future.

Of course, suppliers have to consider their returns, but it would be wrong, for the sake of a quck buck, to jeopardise all the hard work that&rsquo;s gone into the creation of stable markets, along with proper development of supply chain relationships, customer loyalty and product quality, over the past few years.

Europe&rsquo;s traders need to weigh up their options and make the right choice.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A game of two fresh produce halves</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home</dc:subject><dc:date>2007-11-01T10:03:26+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/game_two_fresh_produce_halves.html#unique-entry-id-24</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/game_two_fresh_produce_halves.html#unique-entry-id-24</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

There&rsquo;s something about the fresh produce trade that reminds me of football, believe it or not.  Both are made up of private groups seeking to attract the biggest market share and rise to the top of their respective leagues.  At times, the game is a frustrating, tense affair; at other times, it&rsquo;s an exciting and captivating spectacle.  In some countries, those paying for the pleasure of sampling what these teams have to offer are looking for a high quality, good-looking product; whereas in other instances the aesthetics are not so much of an issue as long as the end result is the right one.

Europe&rsquo;s fresh produce business, much like its football industry, has relied increasingly on exports from Latin America in the past few decades to sustain it and enable it to improve further.  Some may have feared that this trade was a threat to local, home-grown talent, but they appear actually to have raised standards in European competition and encouraged more people to part with their money.

Sometimes, some of the industry&rsquo;s best players put aside their differences and compete together on the international stage.  Putting on their country&rsquo;s colours, they become collaborators instead of competitors, with a shared goal and a team ethic.  In the fruit and vegetable sector during the last few years, the Southern Hemisphere&rsquo;s leading exporters have gone further still and formed a regional partnership, promoting competitive cooperation through the Southern Hemisphere Association of Fresh Fruit Exporters.  As a result partly of this development, we are now noticing smooth transitions between Europe&rsquo;s season and counter-season for a number of products &ndash; most notably for apples, pears and berries but also for kiwifruit, stonefruit and grapes, although less so for citrus.  Imagine if Pel&eacute;, Maradona and Alfredo Di St&eacute;fano had teamed up with George Best, Johan Cruijff and Zinedine Zidane; that would have been some front line indeed.

I&rsquo;m really looking forward to visiting Argentina for the very first time at the end of this month, and not just because I&rsquo;m a huge fan of Maradona (and steak).  My trip coincides with the Southern Hemisphere Congress, Eurofruit Magazine&rsquo;s annual trade conference, which takes place in Buenos Aires on 28-30 November 2007.  The event, the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, brings together many of the country&rsquo;s leading fresh produce companies as well as a good number of the regional trade&rsquo;s foremost operators and service providers.  It&rsquo;s half-time in terms of Europe&rsquo;s annual supply calendar, and this issue is designed to blow the whistle for the start of the second half.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Time for bananas to cast off the political shackles</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home</dc:subject><dc:date>2007-10-01T12:56:12+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/bananas_cast_off_shackles.html#unique-entry-id-23</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/bananas_cast_off_shackles.html#unique-entry-id-23</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

Those of you not keeping a close eye on the on-going wrangling over the European Union&rsquo;s banana regime could be forgiven for thinking that nothing has changed in the last decade.  In 1997, the World Trade Organisation called on the EU to change its import system; ten years on, it&rsquo;s the same story.  No-one seems any happier about their position: since the single-tariff came into effect in 2006, ACP countries have fared better than predicted, but many say they would have preferred to keep the old system; dollar countries meanwhile have once again labelled the regime &ldquo;discriminatory&rdquo;.  Ecuador is again leading a challenge through the WTO, and once again the organisation has set up a panel to investigate.  Plus &ccedil;a change and all that.

I have to say, making sense of the whole debate is sometimes beyond me.  Everyone has a different view, claims of vested interests continue to be thrown around like confetti and all the while the lawyers are raking it in. Companies involved in the business actually employ people specifically to make sense of the myriad rules and regulations governing the industry.  The additional expense involved in maintaining a staff of legally trained professionals whose sole task it is to wade knee-deep through the political and commercial red tape in order to keep their employers floating in the right direction must be huge; surely the money would be far better spent on promoting brands and boosting consumption in a free and open market?

In no other sector of the fresh produce business has bureaucracy held such sway for so long. EU officials have tried to manage the transition to a free and open market, encouraging countries like the UK and France to take more dollar bananas while pushing for the likes of Germany and Scandinavia to source a greater volume of ACP fruit.  But in commercial terms at least, the European banana market is crying out to be liberated from its political shackles.  As several of the articles in our lead feature suggest, there is huge potential for enlivening the trade and turning it into the kind of segmented, multi-faceted market that has emerged for other products in the last few years, notably for tomatoes, citrus and apples.  Banana consumption may not be growing, but organic and Fairtrade sales are increasing, while new smaller varieties like Chiquita Minis are proof that diversification can help the banana trade catch up with the rest of the fresh produce business.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Underlining the value of careful planning</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Home</dc:subject><dc:date>2007-09-01T15:51:21+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/underlining_value_careful_planning.html#unique-entry-id-22</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/underlining_value_careful_planning.html#unique-entry-id-22</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

The European apple market is an excellent example of how the trade can regulate itself, free from the constraints of unilateral self interest and politics.  Under the auspices of the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA), supplier countries both within the European Union and in third countries are now sharing market data and planning ahead, putting themselves in an altogether stronger position in terms of marketing and, crucially, making it easier to avoid the perils of oversupply.

This is cooperative competition &ndash; or, as one Southern Hemisphere apple exporter puts it, &lsquo;cooptition&rsquo; &ndash; rather than collaboration, but all the same it appears to work and, in the last two years, it has made the European apple market a much more rewarding place to do business.  As our coverage of the European topfruit season (starting on p26) shows, the medium-term outlook for apple marketers is generally positive, although much remains to be done in terms of increasing consumption.  Surely a similar structure would do wonders for, say, the EU citrus market?  Demand for citrus in many European countries is at a fairly mature stage, but with careful planning the trade would be able to manage supply better and at least give itself a fighting chance of reversing the recent downturn in sales.

In practically any fresh produce category, generic promotions also have the potential to attract new consumers.  With the EU now offering millions of euros to associations that want to encourage higher consumption, there is now plenty of scope for generating new interest in eating fresh produce as part of a healthy diet.  At the front of the queue?  Apple associations from Italy, France and the Netherlands, which this autumn are embarking on a three-year, pan-European promotional campaign designed to push up sales of fresh apples.  Other categories would do well to take note and consider doing the same.

By the way, Eurofruit Magazine has reached another milestone with this, its quatercentenary issue.  A lot may have changed in the European fresh produce trade since the first copy rolled off the presses almost 35 years ago, but we remain as committed as ever to providing news of all the latest industry developments, as well as high-quality, expert analysis and commentary about what is a fascinating, fast-moving business.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Weather everywhere and not a drop of respite</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2007-08-01T14:27:08+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/weather_everywhere_no_respite.html#unique-entry-id-21</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/weather_everywhere_no_respite.html#unique-entry-id-21</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

We Brits have something of a reputation for always talking about the weather, but when you&rsquo;ve got as much of the stuff as we&rsquo;ve had over the past few weeks, you would probably be tempted to shout it from the rooftops.  With flooding levels predicted to rise over the next couple of decades, that might be the only place to continue this conversation before long.

The majority of people you speak to about the weather this month will agree that it&rsquo;s been what meteorologists refer to in the trade as &ldquo;a stinker&rdquo;, although for differing reasons, depending on whether you&rsquo;re currently more likely to be (a) losing your cool struggling to keep an umbrella the right way up or (b) desperately trying to apply the factor 50 cream before your skin is fried to a crisp.

In northern Europe, downpours have lashed production of topfruit, vegetables and potatoes, while, at the same time, driving consumers away from supermarket shelves crammed with summer fruit and back to their homes to turn up the heating and settle in for the duration; in the centre and south, meanwhile, Europeans have been introduced to the kind of heat more commonly found in the Sahara.  &ldquo;Uncomfortable&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t tell half the story.

With crops in shorter supply due to damage caused by the rain and heat, it might be argued that prices ought to rise in line with the classic supply and demand equation.  But with consumption also falling in many European markets during the past few months as a result of the weather &ndash; particularly in the north &ndash; this might not be so feasible.  When it comes to stonefruit, suppliers based in this month&rsquo;s featured country, Greece, should have plenty to offer clients after earlier concerns over production volumes were allayed.  But not every supplier country will be so lucky.

Demand is going to be much harder to predict.  Many of the continent&rsquo;s leading retailers have also decided this summer&rsquo;s frighteningly wet, or indeed hot, weather simply isn&rsquo;t providing enough excitement, so they&rsquo;ve embarked on major price offensives (see News, p5).  Whether or not this brings customers back into their stores remains to be seen.  For suppliers who have already had a tough summer, though, the promise of further price cuts is worrying news.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Green&#x2c; safe and fair - can suppliers offer all three?</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2007-07-01T14:20:38+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/green_safe_fair.html#unique-entry-id-20</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/green_safe_fair.html#unique-entry-id-20</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

In the past 12 months, climate change, like food safety and social responsibility before it, has emerged to become a hugely influential factor which shapes the way consumers think and informs their fresh produce buying decisions.  However, once again, the conflicting commercial priorities of diverse industry stakeholders mean there is no real industry consensus on what exactly suppliers, traders and retailers must do in order to fulfill their obligations on this issue.

When food safety fears came to the fore, the industry split, broadly speaking, into two camps: those that felt better certification of pre- and post-harvest agricultural practices was the way forward; and those that saw organic production as the answer.  When major concerns over the treatment of workers in supplier countries were raised, many felt corporate responsibility was the answer, while others held Fairtrade aloft as the kind of guarantee the conscientious shopper was looking for.  In the end, it has been up to the consumer to decide and for the retailer, supplier and producer to follow.

But now that things like carbon emissions and food miles are also at the forefront of consumers&rsquo; minds, the emphasis placed on reducing the industry&rsquo;s impact on the environment is throwing up some interesting dilemmas when considered alongside these other more established consumer concerns.  Is transporting conventional, out-of-season, local strawberries from just around the corner really better than sourcing in-season, foreign, organic strawberries from overseas?  Does banning airfreighted fruit and vegetables run the risk of preventing redistribution of wealth and, by doing so, jeopardise the livelihood of the producers who lose their supply deals?

Last month, I visited Whole Foods&rsquo; newly opened store in London and was amazed to find that the company&rsquo;s commitment to sourcing exclusively organic products had compelled it to source several products &ndash; including blueberries, carrots and mushrooms &ndash; from abroad, despite conventional, UK-grown volumes being readily available on its doorstep.

Of course, it all comes down to knowing what the consumer wants, and this is something which retailers are very good at.  They run trials, harvest the data and then let the number-crunchers work out where the real money is.  Green issues may be clouding the debate, but when the sales figures come in, everything will become clear.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Turkey can bridge the gap as global demand rises</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2007-05-23T11:23:48+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/turkey_can_bridge_gap.html#unique-entry-id-15</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/turkey_can_bridge_gap.html#unique-entry-id-15</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

On 6-8 June, FRESH, the annual congress for the European fresh produce sector organised by Eurofruit Magazine and Freshfel Europe, takes place in Istanbul.  To coincide with FRESH2007, the June issue contains an in-depth preview (p26-33), plus a special feature on Turkey (p34-49).  For the first time in FRESH&rsquo;s five-year history, and in the 30-year history of the two events that formed FRESH, we are venturing outside the EU.  Why?  Turkey has the potential to become one of its most valued members, standing as it does across the border between Europe and Asia, at the political crossing point between east and west, and with a foot in both ideological camps that divide Europe from the Middle East.

If Turkey does join the EU in the next few years as expected (this is by no means certain), it can also be a huge asset to the Union&rsquo;s fresh produce trade.  A powerhouse of production and one of the continent&rsquo;s leading exporters, the country has built a strong reputation in several of Europe&rsquo;s major markets as a supplier of citrus, cherries, grapes, topfruit and vegetables, while in Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East (most notably Saudi Arabia), its export trade has grown significantly over the past decade.  At the same time, opening up the Turkish market to a larger volume of imports will offer other EU suppliers a valuable opportunity to grow their business.

At present, Turkey&rsquo;s fresh produce exports still only account for less than 10 per cent of its total production, so the big question in the next decade will be how it can increase this figure and continue to supply the same high quality.  With markets for fresh fruit and vegetables still growing in eastern Europe, Russia, the CIS and the Middle East, Turkey will have a distinct geographical advantage over other European suppliers when it comes to meeting the increased demand.

However, should retailers and consumers in these markets become more exacting in terms of product quality, food safety, traceability and other issues like the environment and Fairtrade, Turkish exporters will need to ensure they can meet the required standards.  Better packaging provision will be needed, as will the continued expansion of logistics support and ongoing investments in technology and certification.  The industry will also depend on planned improvements to the country&rsquo;s infrastructure facilitating a greater volume of external trade.

In short, many questions will be asked of Turkey; whether it has the answers remains to be seen.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Where does it all begin and where will it end?</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2007-05-01T11:25:36+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/seasonality_and_category_management.html#unique-entry-id-16</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/seasonality_and_category_management.html#unique-entry-id-16</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

Sometimes I feel like it&rsquo;s hard to keep up with everything that&rsquo;s going on in the world of fruit and vegetables.  It doesn&rsquo;t seem like five minutes ago I was racking up the kilometres in the halls of Messe Berlin at Fruit Logistica, yet here we are on the brink of summer, with its promise not only of hot weather but also some fantastic fresh produce like peaches and nectarines.  The great thing about these fruits, in my opinion, is that they remain seasonal &ndash; in the minds of consumers, that is &ndash; and, as a result, still create something of a stir when they arrive on the supermarket shelves.

There&rsquo;s so much potential mileage here for summer fruits in terms of marketing that it almost seems perverse there is no perceptible start and end to the season for certain other products.  Wouldn&rsquo;t it be fantastic to herald the beginning of the banana campaign with huge carnivals in city centres to a fanfare of Latin or African music?  Or what about a big party to bring in the apple season?  Maybe this is something we could do anyway, regardless of the fact that these and other fruits are sold for 52 weeks of the year?  Beer is also sold year-round, but that doesn&rsquo;t stop the Germans giving it a good old go in October, does it?  Then again, they really don&rsquo;t take so much convincing when it comes to downing the good stuff.

The real question is, do retailers really view seasonality and category management as suitable bed-fellows?  Speaking to one Italian buyer at the end of last month, I got the distinct impression that seasonal promotions, particularly for geographically protected products that have a particular historical link with a certain part of the world, can be hugely successful.  However, my fear is that the industry&rsquo;s determination to build year-round supply and to iron out the sales peaks and troughs that used to be typical of the fresh produce sector, particularly in Europe, is leaving us with an entirely uninspiring market.

Varieties can play a part in sustaining interest in individual product categories, but how many consumers really know the difference, say, between one type of strawberry and another?  Even if they notice a difference from week to week, will they make a note of the variety name or even think to check?  I&rsquo;m not so sure.  Market volatility isn&rsquo;t ideal, but it&rsquo;s a lot more exciting.  Perhaps this doesn&rsquo;t make good business sense; perhaps consistency is a desirable thing for those looking to make money; but surely there&rsquo;s commercial value in differentiation too?  We warm to summer all the more because of the winter that went before.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Fairtrade is changing the shape of the banana trade</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2007-04-01T11:28:31+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/fairtrade_bananas.html#unique-entry-id-17</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/fairtrade_bananas.html#unique-entry-id-17</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

By the end of July, every banana sold by resurgent UK supermarket group Sainsbury&rsquo;s will be branded Fairtrade.  The group&rsquo;s chief executive Justin King has informed suppliers of their obligations and, as we speak, these companies are working with banana producers to get plantations certified in time.  Anyone who thinks Fairtrade is just a passing fad or just another brand for righteous, do-gooder consumers had better think again.  Fairtrade is here to stay because not only does it appeal to the public, it&rsquo;s giving retailers a healthy dose of good PR and a chance to sell more bananas.

As Fairtrade banana sales continue to rise, however, you have to wonder where importers will find the additional volumes necessary to support such a commitment without detracting from the quality of the fruit.  Independent inspections need to take place and certification needs to be granted, but even these do not guarantee ample supplies of fruit.  As one major European importer told me at the start of this month: &ldquo;There are other supply options we could switch on for Fairtrade, but you&rsquo;d be compromising on quality.&rdquo;

And at some point the retailers are going to want to make a healthy margin out of all this.  As well as insisting the price of their bananas will not rise and that quality will not suffer, they have also reassured suppliers that they will not have to foot the bill.  In this case at least, they appear to be putting their money where their press releases are.  But the financial backing needs to be sustained and, crucially, must be seen as a buying cost rather than a marketing expense.

Across Europe, other retail operators are buying into the Fairtrade produce trend, and you have to wonder where this leaves the major banana companies, who prospered under the licence system and who still make much of their money from supplying conventional bananas in bulk.  As more shoppers demand Fairtrade and even organic bananas, it begs the question what impact it will have on the shape of the European banana market as a whole.  You would be forgiven for thinking that the trade is about to see upheaval on an even greater scale than that witnessed following EU policy changes in 1993 and 2006.

Food retail has driven change in the fresh produce business for the last 20 years, but in many ways the banana business has been left untouched.  The end of the licence system has at last given supermarkets the opportunity to shake up the category for the first time.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The logical conclusion of vertical integration?</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2007-03-01T11:29:49+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/e95b1a2b38ec89b08fd7bab678dbc7e1-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/e95b1a2b38ec89b08fd7bab678dbc7e1-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

The year is 2020 and Wal-Mart has announced plans to open its first store in Indonesia.  Following decades of stunning sales growth in India (home to the world&rsquo;s second-largest Muslim community), any question marks over the US giant&rsquo;s ability to win over a predominantly Muslim consumer base have now faded.  Wal-Mart now dominates not only the Americas, but also a large percentage of the Indian sub-continent and south-east Asia.

Bailian, meanwhile, has overtaken Carrefour as the world&rsquo;s second-largest food retailer thanks to the huge strides it has made in Africa, where consumers have extended a generally warm welcome to the Shanghai-based operator.  Ethiopia, in particular, its population having doubled in size since the turn of the millennium, has embraced the Chinese group&rsquo;s new Galla banner, which offers a unique brand of low-priced merchandising in street market-style outlets.

Carrefour continues to do well in Latin America and Asia, where its recent acquisition of Germany&rsquo;s Metro Group has boosted profits.  However, its growth has stalled in Europe and the Middle East due to growing competition from the world&rsquo;s largest food retail group, Tesco-Ahold.

The Anglo-Dutch company has certainly been pushing the boundaries of fresh produce retailing since last year&rsquo;s acquisitions of Total Produce &ndash; the company divested from Fyffes back in 2006 &ndash; and seed company Syngenta.  By taking such a bold financial step, the company has been able to harness fully the power of vertical integration, turning the &lsquo;field to fork&rsquo; theory into reality.  When it comes to sourcing fresh fruits and vegetables, the whole supply chain has been brought in-house and made far more manageable.

The company&rsquo;s employees harvest, store and pack the fruit, before handing consignments over to their colleagues at LinkCool (the logistics and shipping joint venture formed with Maersk Line at the end of 2015).  From the distribution centre it heads to the port, while at the other end another state-of-the-art portside handling centre is on standby to receive the fruit before forwarding it to Tesco-Ahold&rsquo;s main distribution centre.

For the growers, Tesco-Ahold&rsquo;s front doorstep lies at the end of their plantations.  All they have to do is cultivate their client&rsquo;s licensed varieties before harvesting them.  Then, with no further value left to add, they simply turn around and head home.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Watch for the changes and try to keep up&#x2026;</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2007-02-01T11:31:24+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/technological_advances.html#unique-entry-id-19</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/technological_advances.html#unique-entry-id-19</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

Technology is a wonderful thing.  Thanks to the marvels of modern science, we can now develop fruits and vegetables that grow better, travel better and taste better; we can adjust the way crops grow by putting different coloured nets over them; we can store produce in a kind of suspended animation using controlled or modified atmosphere; we can track every individual fresh produce shipment using barcodes; we can monitor the temperatures in reefer containers; we can communicate with all points in the supply chain; and, increasingly, we can find out what&rsquo;s happening in the fresh produce trade by finding news online as well as offline.

In the next year, it is likely that more and more of Eurofruit Magazine&rsquo;s content will be published onthe web.  As far as we can tell, there is strong demand for news stories and feature articles to be read online.  It makes sense in many ways.  Until screens are the same resolution as printed pages, magazines will be the preferred medium for Eurofruit Magazine, but the technology that exists for publishing on the internet needs to be embraced, not ignored.

Some stories need to be published as soon as they break rather than be held back for the next issue of the magazine.  Furthermore, making the pages of the magazine available online on the first day of the month to subscribers on the other side of the world must surely be a good thing.  This kind of technology can help a publication like ours stay ahead of the competition, making it more useful, more relevant and more essential.

In our own lives, too, technology has led to empowerment, particularly when it comes to communicating with each other.  No more waiting around for illegible faxed sheets to crawl out of the machine and no more having to walk miles to find a payphone when out of the office.  Instead, we are more efficient, better organised and more profitable.  What did people at fresh produce trade fairs do before they had mobiles?  The queue for the phones must have snaked out the door!

But the problem with this arguably Pyrrhic victory over our less sophisticated ancestors is the fact that once you&rsquo;ve got technology, it seems, you can&rsquo;t live without it.  What&rsquo;s more, technology will always be improving, and it&rsquo;s down to all of us to try to keep up.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Obesity is the big issue for fresh produce trade</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2007-01-16T16:26:44+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/obesity_is_big_issue.html#unique-entry-id-14</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/obesity_is_big_issue.html#unique-entry-id-14</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

Obesity is definitely a concern here at Eurofruit Magazine.  As you may have noticed, our publication has put on quite a bit of weight this month &ndash; so much so, in fact, that I&rsquo;m going to have to do some training in the New Year so I can carry the heavy tome around at Fruit Logistica 2007 in February.

As our front cover suggests, this well-stocked publication contains everything you could possibly need for getting the most out of the world&rsquo;s leading annual fresh produce trade fair.  We&rsquo;ve produced our biggest ever Fruit Logistica preview (p30-73), spanning over 40 pages and highlighting many of the most interesting exhibitors due to take part in the event.  We&rsquo;ve got interviews with some of the biggest companies in the business, including the heads of Fyffes and the newly demerged Total Produce, as well as industry leaders from GF Group, The Greenery, Cobana Fruchtring, Anecoop, Canavese and Zespri.  And there&rsquo;s plenty more, including major features on South African grapes and Moroccan citrus, plus our annual Trade NZ supplement.  The magazine you&rsquo;re holding may make your arms ache, but there is certainly nothing overblown about its content.

Even if this magazine is having trouble staying slim, the fresh produce sector itself is making some good progress in the bid to counteract obesity.  Projects designed to increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables through generic promotions are starting to have an effect; alongside a plethora of national schemes based on the 5-a-Day idea, there have been some notably inventive campaigns such as the Mr Fruitness and Food Dude programmes.  The latter has done particularly well and was recently presented with a WHO award for fighting obesity (see p11) by EU Health and Consumer Protection Minister Markos Kyprianou.

But it&rsquo;s not all good news.  The fresh produce trade is competing with some giants of the food industry that have deep pockets and large, committed PR departments.  In November, Mr Kyprianou praised groups including McDonald&rsquo;s, Unilever and Kraft for their recent work to address the obesity problem.  The EU needs to give its backing to fruit and vegetable consumption schemes as well, but unless this fragmented sector comes together and starts backing more generic promotions, there&rsquo;s fat chance of it keeping up.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Making mileage out of food</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2007-01-16T16:25:22+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/39a25a00de3c9d5fbbe731771bab7a7f-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/39a25a00de3c9d5fbbe731771bab7a7f-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Chris White

With the single exception of the Kingdom of Thailand, one doesn&rsquo;t usually turn to royalty for advice on the big issues.  However, the future king of England could be about to change all that.

Never shy of an opinion on the absurdity of much modern architecture or the value of complementary medicine, HRH Prince Charles now wants his subjects to recognise that the food they buy may contribute to global warming.

According to newspaper reports, the Prince of Wales is keen that products marketed under his Duchy Originals brand carry information about the greenhouse gases emitted in their manufacture.

&ldquo;Charles hopes Duchy customers will be able to use the detailed information on his products&rsquo; labels to make &lsquo;green&rsquo; choices in the supermarket, which in turn will encourage other food companies to do likewise,&rdquo; reports The Sunday Times newspaper.

Duchy Originals is a multi-million-euro food business set up by Prince Charles in 1990 (www.duchyoriginals.com) to focus on supplying high-quality organic and premium products.  Annual profits of some &pound;1m are donated to his charities.

Although fresh fruits and vegetables are not yet part of the extensive product range, the odds are shortening fast as to when they will do.  Let&rsquo;s not forget, the heir to the British throne is, among many other things, a keen horticulturalist.

Prince Charles was due to outline his plans on food miles labellling to a meeting at St James&rsquo; Palace in central London in mid-December, just before this magazine went to press.

Already well in advance the press was speculating busily just how Prince Charles&rsquo; labelling scheme might work.  Would it look at the weight of gas?  Or would it focus on the percentage of a daily &ldquo;personal carbon allowance&rdquo;, something that Tony Blair&rsquo;s government is also looking at, to help people make their lifestyles more &ldquo;eco-friendly&rdquo;.

As reported in these pages in recent months, food miles is becoming a big issue in the UK.  It also features strongly in the environmental debate across Western Europe, where governments are keen to show their green credentials.

At the same time, shoppers are also catching onto the idea.  Europe&rsquo;s warmest autumn in years will convince many that global warming is an issue that needs to be tackled right away.

And in an effort to do something, shoppers would be forgiven for paying much more attention to what they put into their trolleys on their weekly trip to the local supermarket.

However, as New Zealand agriculture minister Jim Anderton points out in this month&rsquo;s Trade New Zealand supplement (see p18), the issues around food miles are more complicated than the average shopper might think.

&ldquo;A standard British shopping trip of 6.4 kilometres in a large family car to collect 20kg of food uses 25.6 megajoules of energy, the same amount of energy as is used to transport the food over 8,500 kilometres by sea,&rdquo; says Mr Anderton.

Nevertheless, shoppers are expert at making ill-informed choices every day, not least because so much of shopping is driven by psychological need.  We&rsquo;d be fools if we kid ourselves that a label telling shoppers the distance a food has travelled will not make them think twice before buying it.  After all, it helped Fairtrade to grow and is driving demand for organics as well.

The international fresh fruit and vegetable business should brace itself for the fallout from the debate on food miles.  It&rsquo;s almost too late already.  And without delay it must rehearse the arguments that need to be made to defend this business, not simply for airfreighted produce but also for the global sourcing of fresh fruits and vegetables in general.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Forget staples&#x2c; it&#x27;s all about superfruits</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2007-01-16T16:21:24+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/superfruits_not_staples.html#unique-entry-id-12</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/superfruits_not_staples.html#unique-entry-id-12</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Laura Gould

Is it a banana?  Is it an apple?  No, it&rsquo;s a superfruit!  Forget your staple greengrocer commodities; nowadays produce consumption is all about a new breed of superfruits, and if you&rsquo;re not getting your regular intake of blueberries, cranberries or pomegranates, you&rsquo;re just not cutting it with today&rsquo;s die-hard foodies.

New Zealand horticultural development group HortResearch has coined the phrase &lsquo;superfruits&rsquo; to refer to any novelty product, rich in anti-oxidants and health benefits, that is being heavily promoted at consumer level (see p123 for more information).

The latest suspects in this line-up of trendy fruits include blueberries, cranberries and pomegranates, with all three enjoying booming global sales as consumers jump on to the anti-oxidant bandwagon.

But here in the UK, we are being told that, great news as it is that these superfruits are so good for us, nothing beats the good old British cup of tea in terms of high anti-oxidant levels.

According to a series of posters splashed all over the London Underground for the past couple of months, just four cups a day of the ubiquitous British beverage are as good as a punnet of blueberries or pomegranates at combatting the evil toxins like booze and nicotine which roam around our bodies.

Which is just as well for the Eurofruit staff.  Much as we all enjoy our fruit (honestly!), after a long hard day writing about you lot, nothing quite hits the spot like a good ol&rsquo; cuppa.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Grasp the pesticides nettle before it stings you</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2006-11-07T17:07:19+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/pesticides_nettle.html#unique-entry-id-11</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/pesticides_nettle.html#unique-entry-id-11</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

Professor David Hughes upstaged no less a figure than Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Eurofruit&rsquo;s Southern Hemisphere Congress 2006 in Cape Town in October (see our review on p26-29), capturing the imagination of assembled delegates with a refreshing mixture of insight and humour that was not only engaging but also extremely useful to the more than 450 producers, suppliers, marketers, distributors and retailers in the audience.

David also uttered one of the most memorable things I&rsquo;ve heard at an industry conference in recent years.  Referring to the various NGOs currently pushing for the eradication of pesticides in the fruit and vegetable business, and to the presentation made earlier that day on corporate social responsibility by Gijs Kuneman of Dutch environmental body Stichting en Milieu, he paraphrased former US president Lyndon B Johnson&rsquo;s old maxim: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably better to have these guys inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.&rdquo;

The trouble is, people in this industry don&rsquo;t take too kindly to those causing a mess from outside the fresh produce pavilion, which is exactly what Greenpeace did last year with its &lsquo;Stoppt Gift im Essen&rsquo; (&lsquo;Stop Poisons in Food' ) campaign in Germany.  But as Gijs Kuneman pointed out, at this very moment EU regulations are being altered to further tighten the maximum residue levels (MRLs) permitted on fresh fruits and vegetables, so there is a growing need for suppliers to grasp the pesticides nettle before it stings them.

Of course, many companies are already doing a great deal to eliminate the risks of pesticides and, as our report from the EurepGAP annual conference in Prague on p76-77 suggests, more pressure is being brought to bear on certification bodies to harmonise the requirements relating to MRLs and other food safety standards.

As the range and origin of products entering the European fresh produce market continues to expand, it is imperative that the standards required of the suppliers involved are as unambiguous as they can possibly be.  Meanwhile, corporate social responsibility is informing consumer choice more and more, and as a result it is becoming more of a pressing concern for big business.  Long may this continue.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>US plays it fast and loose</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Americas</category><dc:date>2006-11-07T17:05:17+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/fast_and_loose.html#unique-entry-id-10</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/fast_and_loose.html#unique-entry-id-10</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Chris White

You better believe it: food safety is right back on the agenda in an even bigger way than before.  It seems that we have a few California-based producers of spinach to thank for food safety&rsquo;s simultaneous reappearance in red ink at the top of consumers&rsquo; shopping lists and the fresh fruit and vegetable trade&rsquo;s &lsquo;to do&rsquo; list.

In recent weeks, e-coli contamination of bags of fresh spinach have cost the lives of three Americans and rendered very seriously ill more than 200 of their fellow citizens.  This would be bad news anywhere in the world, but it&rsquo;s especially bad for a society which has updated its constitutional principles to include life, liberty and the pursuit of the next meal.

No surprise therefore that spinach sales in the US should have fallen through the floor, with bagged salad sales also hit hard, down by some 30 per cent, say news reports.  Officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as goons from the FBI have been drafted in to hunt down the source of the contamination which, even if the full results of their investigations have yet to be concluded, is widely thought to sit in a pile of cattle manure in a field in central California.

America&rsquo;s ongoing struggle with the safety of its fresh spinach comes at a time of great growth for its bagged salads sector.  The industry in the US is the world&rsquo;s largest, worth more than US$4.5bn in annual sales and growing by some 10 per cent per annum.  Salads are now the third-fastest growing segment in US supermarkets, with sales climbing by some US$200m every year.  A total of eight out of 10 US households now regularly buy packaged salads.

Two brands dominate the bagged salads business in the US, accounting for nearly three-quarters of sales: Fresh Express, which was acquired last year by Chiquita Brands, launched the industry in 1989 and is now market leader with some 41 per cent; Dole is its nearest rival with a 31 per cent share of the market .

When it comes to the safety of produce marketed in the US it seems that things are different.  Although processing plants in the US are checked by the FDA and the large companies have developed their own protocols, for many growers it seems that food safety is actually fairly low on the list of priorities they assign for themselves.

How different things are in Europe, where the leading supermarkets have spent much of the past decade spearheading a campaign for food safety from the top to the bottom of the supply chain.  In the UK alone, the Salmonella and BSE crises have certainly focused minds.  In the light of recent events in the US, their championing of good agricultural practice through standards such as EurepGAP should now be seen as a godsend for suppliers.

Not only does it mean that a food scare of this kind in some of Europe&rsquo;s leading markets is rather less likely, but it also means that the consequences of any outbreak are bound to be rather easier to manage.

Back in the US, the fresh produce business is now searching for answers to the questions raised by the e-coli crisis.  At both United and PMA not to mention among the many opinion-formers in the business and trade media, the search is on for a way out of this current food crisis.  The lessons are being learned.

The US could do worse than look across the Atlantic for a solution.  They ought to invite their own food retail industry jointly to develop a common set of robust and enforceable food safety standards that will prevent this kind of thing happening again.  It&rsquo;s just too much to expect the cavalry to turn up and save them at the last minute.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Basket Case: Australia is proudly self-sufficient&#x2c; but at what price?</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Asia Pacific</category><dc:date>2006-11-07T16:21:11+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/australian_self-suffficiency.html#unique-entry-id-9</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/australian_self-suffficiency.html#unique-entry-id-9</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Laura Gould

Food mile adversaries would be well advised to move to Australia, where their consciences could be salved by the fact that very little of the fresh produce on sale is imported.  Without a single exception, all of the products in the survey above were home-grown; and the retailers seem proud of Australia&rsquo;s horticultural tradition.

However, eco-friendly advantages aside, it does not always pay to be quite so self-sufficient when it comes to the tricky business of fruit and vegetable production.  The devastating Cyclone Larry, which swept through the Australian state of Queensland in March of this year, has taken its toll on the banana industry; bruised and battered fruit, on sale at inflated prices, are indicative of the damage this natural phenomenon has caused to the produce industry Down Under.

The Philippines Agriculture Secretary took advantage of the climatic disaster by refreshing his appeal to the WTO for Australia to allow banana imports from his country, ironically creating a few &lsquo;food miles&rsquo; of his own by catching a long-haul flight to Geneva in order to state his case.

But the Australians have made it emphatically clear that they do not see hastily introduced import measures as the answer to their cyclone-induced banana shortage.

Either way, it just goes to show that, no matter what fresh produce companies do to protect themselves against the elements and work to the highest quality standards they possibly can, they are always, ultimately, at the mercy of Mother Nature.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Consumers care about themselves too</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2006-10-20T10:13:27+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/consumer_cares.html#unique-entry-id-8</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/consumer_cares.html#unique-entry-id-8</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Mike Knowles

Fairtrade bananas quite clearly have something that the sector&rsquo;s multinational players do not: the unquestioned support and trust of consumers.  With sales of Fairtrade fruit in Europe now worth more than &euro;60m, it is clear that people believe it to be one of the most effective ways of ensuring the money they spend is benefiting not just the corporate executives and investors of this world, but also the people who actually produce the fruit.

Our interview with one of the Fairtrade movement&rsquo;s founders, Nico Roozen, on p76-78 of this month&rsquo;s magazine reveals a great deal about how the big companies are looking to position themselves as more than just bulk banana shippers.  Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole and Fyffes are all attempting to improve their levels of corporate and social responsibility, says Mr Roozen, and this is thanks in no small part to the success of Fairtrade over the past decade, which has increased consumers&rsquo; concern about where and how the fruit and vegetables they eat are produced.

Our October issue also includes Trade South Africa, starting on p39, Eurofruit Magazine&rsquo;s most in-depth look ever at what is one of the Southern Hemisphere&rsquo;s leading suppliers of fresh produce.  Here too, there is evidence of greater focus on responsible production.  And while the success of Fairtrade fruit reflects this greater need among consumers for a clear conscience about the health of the planet, the fact that sales of organic fresh produce from South Africa and elsewhere have rocketed over the last few years suggests they are also increasingly concerned about their own health.

However, there are shadows lurking behind both the Fairtrade and organic industries.  As our comment piece on p169 observes, there is a danger that systems of certification and control may be failing in the rush to supply Fairtrade-branded products.  Meanwhile, Natural Selection Foods, the California-based grower at the centre of last month&rsquo;s outbreak in the US of E.coli linked to conventionally produced spinach, is also the country&rsquo;s largest grower and shipper of certified organic produce.  The consequences for this fastgrowing sector, should organic spinach be implicated, would almost certainly be huge, because although consumers care about protecting the environment, they also care a great deal about protecting themselves.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Fairtrade certifiers must redouble their efforts</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2006-10-20T10:08:06+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/fairtrade_efforts.html#unique-entry-id-7</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/fairtrade_efforts.html#unique-entry-id-7</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Chris White

Fairtrade products have come more sharply into the spotlight in recent weeks, and this time for all the wrong reasons.  An investigation by the Financial Times has revealed that labourers involved in the production of Fairtrade coffee in Peru have been paid less than the legal minimum wage.

Quoting industry sources, the financial daily newspaper also reports that non-certified coffee has been marked and exported as Fairtrade while certified coffee has been illegally planted in areas of protected rainforest.  &ldquo;This casts doubt on the certification process used by Fairtrade and similar marks that require producers to pay the minimum wage,&rdquo; reports the FT&rsquo;s Peru corrrespondent.  &ldquo;It also raises questions about the assurances certifiers give about how premium-priced fair trade coffee is produced.&rdquo;

Coffee was among the first major food products to carry the Fairtrade mark, attracting at first a small clientele of socially-concerned consumers.  Since then, Fairtrade coffee and, it has to be said, the philosophy that drinking a cup of it represents, has gone mainstream, so much so that even Nestl&eacute; has launched its own line of fairly-traded coffee.

Although, as has been suggested, much of the interest in Fairtrade used to be limited to a specific and comparatively small group of socially and ecologically aware shoppers, its arrival into the mainstream is not only a result of the wider acceptance of these ideas but also, and probably most importantly, because everyone involved in the Fairtrade supply chain sees there is good money in it too.

Fairtrade gained ground in the 1990s as a means of helping bring higher returns to food producers, many of whom got poor returns year after year as money was swallowed up by the rest of the supply chain and returned only meagre amounts to the producers themselves.  In the fruit sector it is Fairtrade bananas that have made the biggest splash, not least because they&rsquo;re a commodity product available year-round and from numerous sources.

Indeed, in certain markets such as the UK, some major food retailers have become so interested in Fairtrade bananas that they&rsquo;re keen to market ever more volumes of the product.  A quick look around a handful of major stores in central London last month demonstrated the extent to which, at least in these shops, Fairtrade bananas now dominate the offer.  It seems they&rsquo;re being sold much more effectively than conventional fruit, which was offered loose or as a &lsquo;value&rsquo; product; in fact, it was the famous banana that bears the blue label that was selling at the lowest price on that day!

Fairtrade bananas have taken the UK market by storm in the last few years, so much so that retailers are now demanding sometimes exponential increases in volumes from one year to the next.  And even if it has something to do with the demand for Fairtrade coming from the shopper, it is fair to assume that food retailers also see good money and good margins to be made from them.

Of course, there&rsquo;s nothing wrong in any of this, especially if it helps to reinvigorate the sector and drive sales.  But, much like the FT&rsquo;s coffee story in Peru, it begs the question whether, in the rush to source new supplies, there is not a danger that the systems of certification and control start to come unstuck.

If anything, the recent problems that the FT has reported have come at just the right time.  It obliges those who certify in this rapidly growing part of the business to redouble their effforts to ensure that only the produce that is certified has the right to call itself Fairtrade.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Basket Case: eco-friendly retailing</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2006-10-20T09:48:52+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/eco-friendly_retailing.html#unique-entry-id-6</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/eco-friendly_retailing.html#unique-entry-id-6</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Supermarkets have never sprung to mind as particularly green, environmentally-friendly establishments &ndash; after all, that&rsquo;s what organic stores and health food shops are for &ndash; but it seems that the UK&rsquo;s major retailers are now making a concerted effort to redress the balance and quieten some of their harshest ecowarrior critics.

Only last month, market leader Tesco announced its intention to open six regional buying offices in the UK as part of its local sourcing campaign, which in itself was an answer to the recent storm around food miles.The retailer has also launched a new rail freight service in order to cut down on lorry usage.

Carrier bags are not immune to this eco-friendly makeover.  Our local branch, right next to the Eurofruit Magazine office, has suddently started giving away smaller carrier bags &ndash; fine for a sandwich and bottle of coke, not so good for a week&rsquo;s worth of fruit and vegetables.

Of course, Tesco is not the only retailer taking steps to halt environmental damage.  Waitrose is staunchly proud of its local sourcing project, and Sainsbury&rsquo;s has introduced compostable packaging for 500 of its own-brand products.

But ultimately, how far can a supermarket really go in saving the environment?  Keeping prices consumer-friendly does not go hand in hand with a radical ecological policy, and let&rsquo;s face it, if supermarket prices become comparable to those of smaller food stores, customers will react with their wallets, not their consciences.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Funding future in produce</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2006-09-15T12:21:59+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/funding_future.html#unique-entry-id-3</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/funding_future.html#unique-entry-id-3</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Chris White

European fresh fruit and vegetable businesses are benefiting from the historically high levels of movement of workers now happening across the EU.

This is one of the conclusions to be drawn from the latest statistics published just over two years after 10 countries from eastern Europe joined the European Union and more or less a year before Romania and Bulgaria are due to join as full members of the EU.

It seems that the current levels of cross-European migration, which are almost unparalleled in the EU&rsquo;s 50-year history, are allowing economic sectors such as food processing to thrive in the face of intense competition.

That is surely true of the fresh fruit and vegetable sector, which more than many other sectors of the economy has to come to rely on large numbers of relatively low-paid, hard-working people to bring its products to the market.

This applies especially to the more affluent parts of the EU, where the cost of living is higher and wages have had to keep pace with growth.

For example, the latest UK government figures released last month show that some 447,000 eastern Europeans have registered to work in the UK since May 2004.

Most of these new migrants come from Poland, which alone contributed over 200,000 people, with almost all of them aged 18 to 34.

The figures show that many of these migrants to the UK are now employed in the food businesses, with the fresh produce sector an employer of significant size.

No wonder that East Anglia and Kent, both locations of much of Britain&rsquo;s fresh produce growing and handling operations, are both regions that are now home to the largest number of migrants from the new member states.

&ldquo;A lot of businesses rely on these people to pick the harvest and the harvest doesn&rsquo;t wait.  It&rsquo;s ready and it has to be delivered to customers,&rdquo; commented Philip Hudson, chief horticultural adviser of the National Farmers&rsquo; Union, the UK&rsquo;s main agricultural group.  &ldquo;These people are absolutely vital.  Without them, some businesses wouldn&rsquo;t be able to function at all.&rdquo;

Immigration has helped push the UK population to over 60m for the first time, with numbers growing by 375,000 or 0.6 per cent in the year to June 2006.  This is the fastest growth rate since 1965 and the largest annual increase in the UK population since 1962.

Significantly, government figures also show that the new migrants to Britain are staying for relatively short periods of time.  Although net migration to the UK reached 222,600 more migrants coming in than leaving in 2004, some 193,000 of these new migrants say they want to return to their country of origin within two years.  As one newspaper put it, this is &ldquo;a guest workforce that doesn&rsquo;t stay long&rdquo;.

Happy to take the kind of low paid jobs that are shunned by their Western European counterparts, these new migrants are very often highly-skilled young people with very big ambitions.

Many of them have left their own countries to profit from the higher wages abroad.  And many of them are also here to develop their skills.

You can bet that some of these new migrants who today are working on a packing line somewhere in western Europe will tomorrow be among those entrepreneurs to set up their own fresh produce businesses in eastern Europe.

So fresh produce businesses over here, which are already finding it difficult to get young people to join our sector, could do worse than to identify the brightest and the best of these new migrants to help them take their businesses forward.

After all, isn&rsquo;t this a sector that prides itself on people who know what it means to get their hands dirty?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>So long&#x2c; farewell&#x2c; Auf Wiedersehen&#x2c; goodbye&#x2026;</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2006-09-15T12:18:15+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/so_long.html#unique-entry-id-5</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/so_long.html#unique-entry-id-5</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Caroline Pike

As you know, ladies and gentlemen, all good things must come to an end.  Thankfully, many not-so-good things also have a finite shelf-life so you may be relieved to read that my tenure as editor of Eurofruit Magazine is now drawing to a close.  At the end of this month I shall be leaving to take up the position of Professor of Quantum Physics at the University of Duisburg.

Truth be told, they&rsquo;ve been chasing me for years but what with my advisory work for the UN and training for the British Olympic Show Jumping team, I simply haven&rsquo;t had the time.  Something just had to give.

To be honest, I&rsquo;ve been thinking for a long time that the danger money they pay me at Eurofruit Magazine no longer justifies the risk (in my time I&rsquo;ve been manhandled on a moonlit camel ride at the pyramids in Giza and shipwrecked in the Western Cape).

On the plus side, however, I&rsquo;ve visited many wonderful countries, met some truly lovely people and eaten an awful lot of delicious fruit.  And despite the many challenges faced by the entire trade on a daily basis, it is heartening to see that the industry is going just as strong as it was when I started as a staff journalist nearly seven years ago.

In some ways, the potential for boosting fresh produce consumption has never been greater, given rising obesity rates and the ever-increasing bank of scientific research highlighting the ability of a diet rich in fruit and vegetables to combat this and other health problems.  No doubt, my hugely talented and very lovely colleague, Mike Knowles, who is taking over as editor, will keep you up to date with the latest developments on this front.

Regrets?  I&rsquo;ve had a few (Prognosfruit 2000 was a particularly low point for me).  But I&rsquo;ll take away very many happy memories with me.  So, to all of you who have ever sent me a story, invited me on a trip or replied to my no doubt hugely inconvenient requests for information, I thank you.  But thanks especially to all my wonderful colleagues, whom I am going to miss tremendously.

(OK, I&rsquo;m actually leaving to have a baby so please feel free to send me any of your favourite cake recipes and knitting patterns.)]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Basket Case: local sourcing</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2006-09-15T12:13:15+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/local_sourcing.html#unique-entry-id-4</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/local_sourcing.html#unique-entry-id-4</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Unless your ham has been specially selected from a pig just 30km down the road, your cream clotted at the local dairy or your apples hand-picked by a 100-year-old farmer who has been in the business &ldquo;man and boy&rdquo;, it seems that nowadays your shopping bag simply doesn&rsquo;t cut it with the upper crust.

Local sourcing is the recent trend taking the world&rsquo;s foodies by storm, from the UK to continental Europe and the US. As the issue of food miles receives more and more press attention, and farmers&rsquo; markets and organic stores increase in popularity all over the globe in a bid to boost local, small-scale businesses, retailers are having to take a more eco-friendly, socially responsible stance.

And so when products are in season, retailers are now running huge promotions to boost sales of local goods, such as the UK asparagus campaign featured on page 100 of this month&rsquo;s magazine.

The irony of course is that those consumers jumping on the local sourcing bandwagon are probably the very same complaining about the effects that production is having on their surrounding environment.  The polytunnel debate raging in the UK as a result of increased strawberry plantings is just one example &ndash; if customers want fresh UK-grown strawberries, they will have to learn to put up with the technology needed to produce them.  If not, then we will be back to higher levels of imports during the summer months.

Which raises the question: is this foodie trend a short-lived one?  Or is the demand for local sourcing here to stay?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Enough to keep you awake</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2006-06-29T15:43:44+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/coffee_paradox.html#unique-entry-id-2</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/coffee_paradox.html#unique-entry-id-2</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Chris White

The next time you buy a cup of coffee, pause for a moment to contemplate &ldquo;the coffee paradox&rdquo; and to ponder its relevance to our own business in fresh fruits and vegetables.

According to a recent meeting of the International Coffee Organisation, global demand for coffee has doubled over the last 30 years.  Demand continues to grow strongly, reaching a new high of some 119m sacks of the stuff in 2006.

Meanwhile, global supplies of coffee beans have kept pace with market demand, with a small surplus of some 120m sacks expected this year from the world&rsquo;s major coffee producing countries including Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ivory Coast and Vietnam.

Yet inspite of this relatively narrow imbalance in supply and demand in the global coffee market, coffee prices have fallen through the floor, down by around a quarter since the start of this year alone.

As the author of a weekly commodities column in France&rsquo;s Le Monde newspaper explains, the exclusiveness of the coffee bean is part of its problem.  You see, the beans are good for making a cup of coffee and not for much else, not a problem for the world&rsquo;s other big commodities, such as sugar cane or corn maize, both of which are now tipped as an alternative fuel source for our motor cars in the years to come as oil reserves dry up.

Indeed, coffee&rsquo;s price position has got so bad that they failed to show signs of life on news that global coffee stocks have dropped to record lows in exporting and importing countries alike.

This disparity, which is the title of a new book that explains this so-called &ldquo;coffee paradox&rdquo; is most keenly felt when you look at the price you pay for your mocha or some other concoction whipped up at your local Starbucks or equivalent which characterises the coffee experience for consumers in places on the planet as different as Boston, Beijing and Bombay.

It seems that the money in the coffee business is being made at only one end of the supply chain.  The people who have most to do with the consumers are the ones who are coining it in.

On the other hand, the coffee producers, those who merely pick the beans and pack them into sacks for sale, are beset by miserable returns that barely cover the production costs.

&ldquo;The coffee that&rsquo;s sold by the grower in Rwanda and enjoyed by the broker in Manhattan or Paris is not the same thing,&rdquo; explains Le Monde.  &ldquo;They&rsquo;re now paying for all sorts of extras, such as the comfortable cushions you sit on, the TV screens with the latest World Cup match to watch and the hi-speed internet connection you&rsquo;re now provided with.&rdquo;

So value in today&rsquo;s coffee business is being created and enjoyed almost exclusively by the people who retail the bitter, black drink.  What&rsquo;s more, they&rsquo;re also the ones setting the prices which, according to our coffee paradox, do not obey the laws of supply and demand.  And growers just don&rsquo;t get a look in.

Coffee aside, the paradox should be enough to keep fresh fruit and vegetable suppliers awake in their beds at night.  They&rsquo;re convinced that global oversupply is the real cause for the low market prices.  Correct this and the rest falls into place.

The consequences on price of supply and demand in the coffee business suggests otherwise.  Indeed, there are clear parallels for our business, especially for those growers who operate at the commodity end of the business.  Apple, citrus and table grape growers will know what we mean.

If there is money to be made in coffee nowadays, it&rsquo;s in those areas of the business supplying something different.  So next time go for a large, organic, fair trade latte with extra cream.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Hard to avoid the World Cup waistline trap</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Europe</category><dc:date>2006-06-29T15:24:10+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/world_cup_waistline.html#unique-entry-id-1</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/world_cup_waistline.html#unique-entry-id-1</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Caroline Pike

By the time this issue of Eurofruit Magazine lands on your desk (as eagerly awaited as the first snowdrops of spring, no doubt), the World Cup may well be over.  As I write this, however, I find myself in exactly the same position as I do every four years &ndash; wondering who the hell I&rsquo;m going to support for the next two weeks.

This is usually because my beloved Scotland have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a nail-biting thriller against Latvia and failed, once again, to progress past the group stages.  This year, however, we did not even manage to qualify and, having drawn Italy and France in the qualifying stages of Euro2008, I fear it may be a long time until the Tartan Army will be seen, lifting their kilts and flashing their crown jewels, in a town near you.

But enough of my woes.  For many, the World Cup is proving to be something of a cash cow and the fruit industry is just one sector that appears to be benefiting.  UK supermarket chain Waitrose has reported a 50 per cent increase in sales of strawberries, cherries and peaches compared to the same week last year, a phenomenon the retailer is attributing to the desire of female footie fans to snack healthily during games.  I have to say, I am a little dubious about such claims.  I mean, how often do you hear the immortal words: &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s get the jackfruit in - the football&rsquo;s about to start!&rdquo;?

According to Italian farmers&rsquo; association Coldiretti, the average armchair supporter will pile on around 5kg during the World Cup, thanks to a diet of beer, crisps, chocolate and more beer.  But weight-gain is not the only hazard that can be avoided if you reach for a plum instead of a pint.  Coldiretti claims that melons and lettuce can help combat high blood pressure and nerves.  However, the body also points out that melons contain &ldquo;modest laxative properties&rdquo; which could prove troublesome to say the least if you&rsquo;ve extra time and penalties to sit through.

For those of you with teams left in the competition, I wish you every success (except England of course).  And if your team doesn&rsquo;t quite manage to get its hands on the coveted trophy, remember there are many ways you can console yourselves.  After Scotland lost 3-0 to Morocco in Saint-Etienne during World Cup 1998, around 8,000 Scottish fans drowned their sorrows with approximately 125,000 litres of beer.  Bars ran dry, and fresh supplies had to be shipped in to quench the thirst of the disappointed Scots.  It makes you proud.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Basket Case: online grocery shopping</title><dc:creator>michael@fruitnet.com</dc:creator><category>Global</category><dc:date>2006-06-29T15:16:32+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/online_shopping.html#unique-entry-id-0</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.eurofruitmagazine.com/files/online_shopping.html#unique-entry-id-0</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Laura Gould

If the thought of a spotty teenager unable to differentiate between an unripe avocado and a downright mouldy one choosing your shopping fills you with fear, then perhaps online grocery deliveries are not for you.

On the other hand, for those of us from the school of &ldquo;what we don&rsquo;t know can&rsquo;t hurt us&rdquo;, this latest intrusion of the internet into the humdrum routine of daily life is somewhat of a godsend.

Stranded in a dingy corner of North London with no car and the nearest supermarket a 10-15-minute walk away, I apprehensively made my first foray into the world of online grocery shopping a few weeks ago. Imagine my delight when not only did the delivery arrive on time, but I had not been palmed off with the oldest fruits and vegetables in the warehouse.

Of course, there are drawbacks to the system &ndash; you&rsquo;re tied to the house during the delivery time slot (which varies between one or two hours, depending on the retailer); sometimes products are substituted if what you requested is not available; there is the ubiquitous delivery charge; and of course you cannot choose your own fresh produce or meat.

Nevertheless, the impulse to buy junk food on a whim is removed, there is no contending with long check-out queues or surly assistants, and heavy shopping bags become a thing of the past.

The online shopping concept is well underway in the UK, where cash-rich, time-poor consumers are eagerly latching on to the system.  The question remains as to whether shoppers in the rest of the world will embrace the idea with the same enthusaism?]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
</rss>