While German fruit consumption was down again in 2013, that hasn't stopped the global industry from gathering in the nation's capital once more for Fruit Logistica, with 58,000 visitors expected this week.

Hans-Jürgen Kirsch, who is the director of product range management in fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants at Globus SB-Warenhaus, told the conference that more effort was needed from the industry to make produce consumption attractive, focusing on taste and appeal rather than price or health benefits.

"Fruit and vegetables have much more - fruit and vegetables are sexy, fruit and vegetables are so trendy," said Kirsch, whose company won the Fruchtandel Magazine Retail Award in the hypermarkets category, along with Edeka E-Center in the full range supermarket category.

"It's not enough to ask that you eat five fruit and vegetables a day and you'll stay healthy."

The comments come after Bonn-based AMI revealed that Germans ate around 1% less fruit and vegetables in 2013. However, 6% more was spent on produce, which is 4.5 percentage points higher than the national inflation rate.

Hans-Jürgen Kirsch

The market was a plus for foreign exporters however, with imports bucking the trend of recent years to rise once more, likely past five million metric tons (MT). This also came at a time when Germany's commercial fruit production fell by 13% to 1.1 million MT.

AMI's research shows that 44% of German fruit imports come from non-European Union countries.

Apples remained the most-consumed fruit at 18.7kg per household despite a decline in sales, followed by bananas (15.6kg), oranges (10.3kg), easy peelers (6.4kg), grapes (5.3kg), melons (4.6kg), strawberries (4.4kg), nectarines (3.1kg), pears (2.9kg) and pineapples (2.1kg).

In vegetables, tomatoes led the way at 11.4kg per household, followed by carrots (8.4kg), onions (7.5kg), cucumbers (7.2kg), sweet peppers (5.7kg), iceberg lettuce (3.1kg), asparagus (2.2kg), cauliflower (2kg), leeks (1.5kg) and courgettes (1.5kg).

The report showed that the European Union fruit crop grew by almost 7% last year to around 37 million MT, which is less than 5% of the global fruit production figure of 790 million MT. Expectations are high than the EU's vegetable production will also grow, but at a more modest 2% rate.

Argentina is the event's official partner country, with annual global produce exports of 1.9 million million MT of which 32% goes to Europe (not including Russia).

The Fruit Logistica exhibition halls will open tomorrow. Stay tuned for more coverage on www.freshfruitportal.com.

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