Positive signs for suppliers in Europe
by Market Insider
Thursday, 16 Apr. 2015
New research suggests fresh fruit and
vegetable categories that can offer western European consumers convenience and
even indulgence are bucking a recent decline in sales and helping to restore
value to the fresh produce market, while a resurgence of interest in healthy
eating bodes well for the future of the business overall.
The
research published by Euromonitor International outlines that while per-capita
consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables in the region has fallen over the past
five years, areas such as fruit snacks and fresh-cut fruit have shown percentage
growth around the 20% mark, indicating there is potential for growth in such
value-added categories.
The head of Euromonitor International’s of
fresh food research said that while for example fresh meat consumption was
falling in Western Europe – mainly due to greater consumer interest in
vegetarian and vegan diets as well as growing concerns about health issues –
fruits and vegetables are gaining in popularity, with organic produce
increasingly in demand.
Western Europe accounts for around 8% of the
global fruit market and nearly 6% of the global vegetable market; as far as the
volume of fresh food sold in the region is concerned, fresh fruit now makes up
27% of the market and vegetables 29%.
The volume of fresh fruit sold
in Western Europe last year was 34,23m tonnes, the five largest categories being
citrus, apples, bananas, grapes and stonefruit; oranges and soft citrus alone
accounted for more than 20% of the market although the volume sold has fallen
since 2009. In terms of growth, blueberries remain the stand-out performer with
an annual growth rate of almost 6% for the period 2009-14; other fruit
categories achieving growth over that time were cherries (2.2%), bananas (1.8
%), strawberries (1.5 %), peaches and nectarines (0.6 %) and grapes (0.2 %). In
the same five-year period, volumes sold fell for major categories such as
grapefruit and pomelos (-3.1 %), pears and quinces (-1.8 %), apples (-0.9 %),
soft citrus (-0.7 %) and lemons and limes (-0.5 %).
The volume of
fresh vegetables sold in Western Europe during 2014 was 36.13m tonnes, with the
largest single category, tomatoes, accounting for 31% of the volume. Growth in
the vegetable market has been marginal overall during the past five years, with
certain categories such as tomatoes, brassicas and maize showing a 0.5% compound
annual increase in volumes sold. For other vegetable types the rate of growth in
2009-14 was minimal, while for onions there has been an 0.2% annual decrease in
the size of the market in western Europe.
Organic fresh produce
appear to be outperforming conventional categories in key countries, with sales
of organic fruit approaching 15% in the UK and organic vegetables commanding at
least a 10% share of sales in both the UK and Spain.
Source:
Fruitnet