Market Watch
Sales efforts are focusing more onWestern Canada as coremarket.
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fforts by growers through the B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association mesh very well with what B.C. Tree Fruits is doing to market fruit in Western Canada, by introducing consumers to the local tree fruit industry—in a personal way—and encouraging them to purchase locally. That’s the view of Adrian Abbott, director of marketing and industry relations with BCTF, who notes the most lucrative markets are closer to home, so any promotion of the benefits of the local food movement are helpful. “Grassroots promotion and consumer awareness is a good complement to our efforts at selling retail and wholesale and it’s good to have growers more involved,” he commented.
With smaller crops, he said, it’s not necessary to go further afield, so BCTF efforts are now focused on Western Canada.
That happens to be a market Washington State growers also feel is theirs, so it inevitably puts B.C. growers head-to-head with those from south of the border.
However, Abbott notes extensive consumer research shows there is a conscientious core of consumers, about 30 per cent, who are very focussed on lifestyle and their impacts on Mother Earth. It’s a trend that’s growing, even though economic considerations set it back a bit in the past year or so, and overall environmental awareness is now returning, he says.
Consumers are reading labels more and talking to farmers about the source of their food, so more involvement by farmers in marketing their products is a very good fit, he notes.
CHERRIES
This year’s cherry crop was worth more this year than last , with well-sized later varieties and good quality fruit overall, said Abbott.
Although prices from Okanagan Tree Fruit Company packinghouses averaged $12 a box more than last year, that was a very poor year, he said. This year’s prices were still about $4 less than a year previous.
By Judie Steeves Grassroots approach is paying off
Part of the reason for that was the U.S. had forecast a massive crop from and, even though it never materialized, prices started out aggressive and low, and they were never able to get them back up enough.
Those prices set early in the season south of the border tend to set the stage for prices of B.C. cherries, so it’s been very frustrating for growers here, Abbott said, particularly since the fruit was so good this year.
APPLES
The apple crop is looking like a full one this year, although it may not have sized up as well as expected, partly because of a cooler spring and weather patterns, said Abbott. However, that situation is similar to what is facing growers in the U.S.
Otherwise, Abbott said it looks like a good, clean crop, with little hail damage reported by mid-August. He’s hopeful retailers may be more receptive this year to alternative packaging such as bags of smaller-sized fruit.
Abbott said he’s hopeful prices will
start off better than they did last season as the season is ending in Washington State with a stronger price point. Prices have increased over the selling year, which is hopeful.
In fact, he’s hopeful prices will continue that upward trend as this season gets underway.
Specifically, he said prices for Spartans were good, while Galas and Macs were similar to the previous year. Ambrosia prices are also similar, but there will be a much larger crop this year, estimated at 325,000 cartons. Despite a short crop of apples last year, prices remained on the low side, but rose throughout the season. Abbott estimates this year’s crop at 3.5 million boxes this year, compared to 2.8 million last year, the smallest in quite awhile, partly due to the Thanksgiving plunge in temperatures last fall which really limited sale of some of the later varieties.
In the U.S., last year’s crop was about 104 million boxes, with estimates it could go as high as 110 million this year.
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