Pink Lady Europe forecasts approximately 150,000 metric tons (MT) of apples will be supplied from the three main growing regions of Spain, Italy and France this season. General director Thierry Mellenotte is particularly pleased with this outlook.

"Crop perspectives in the three production countries seem at this stage excellent both in terms of volume and quality," he told www.freshfruitportal.com. 

"Pink Lady apples are the last ones to be cropped, and the unique color of Pink Lady and their unique organoleptic characteristics are directly linked to weather conditions and most particularly temperature difference between day and night.

"The first volume cropped in the last week of October seems to be excellent. Size is bigger than last year."

Europe's Pink Lady apples are harvested very late in the season from 3,800 hectares of orchards in the three sites, with around 78% of the annual crop exported.

"Pink Lady is very unique, the first apple to blossom and the latest to be cropped, so that means a wider scale of maturity for an apple. That is the reason why Pink Lady grows in limited areas of production," Mellenotte said.

"You must avoid frost in spring and cold and humid weather in the beginning of autumn and to obtain the best in terms of color and flavor. Also important is the thermal amplitude between night and day at the end of the maturation cycle (end of October and first part of November).

"So, Pink Lady apples require a lot of 'savoir-faire' and work in the orchard - 700 hours of work per year, per hectare."

Mellenotte explained that, whatever the weather, the end-customer had come to expect a certain quality from the crunchy sweet fruit. This season’s bumper crop, a 19% increase on last year, is being put down to a mild autumn which delayed the start of the harvest and ensured good coloration.

"Even with strong marketing, people will buy once but not a second time if the promise is not there. The best proof is when you see the loyalty of Pink Lady consumers.

"But that represents a lot of engagement and involvement for the growers; to accept strict qualitative specifications whatever the harvest conditions.

"Regarding our distribution network, we find different ways including directly to the retailers, through importers and category managers, via the wholesale market and wholesaler. As a premium apple, Pink Lady is sold in specialized fruit and vegetable stores."

Has the Russian embargo had an impact this year?

The Russian Federation only represents a 2% market share for Pink Lady Europe so this year’s ban hasn’t really adversely hit volumes, although the brand had been making headway amongst Russian consumers looking for a premium product and willing to pay more for the Pink Lady trademark.

"Basically we could say that we are not affected. But, step by step we have built confidence and growing performances in this [Russian] market, so the embargo stops this trend," the executive said.

With two decades of growing in Europe under its belt, Pink Lady apples are sold in more than 55 countries and found on the shelves of 320 retailers, so losing the Russian share is not such a big deal.

"We've had fantastic success with these apples and brand strategy. Europe is our main business market but we strongly believe in our chances to duplicate this success in Eastern European countries, in Asia and the Middle East.

"All of these countries are looking for a premium quality product insured by the strict qualitative specifications, with a strong and valuable brand, and performing marketing tools and advertising campaigns."

Visible and seductive in store: Pink Lady persuasion

Targeting apple eaters who do not ordinarily opt for the brand is another key focus to recruit more European consumers. This means focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs).

"We know from consumer panels that we can progress on the main European countries on many of the KPI’s and that means penetration, purchase frequency and volume per purchase. So we still have to recruit consumers on those markets.

"We know that many consumers know the Pink Lady apple but didn't try it yet. That’s the objective we gave to our new advertising campaign; to be more focused on the unique quality characteristic of the product.

"To recruit new consumers we also have to be visible and seductive in store. That means we will have a more promotional period this year with attractive premium offers to increase impulsive purchasing and encourage new consumers to try Pink Lady."

www.freshfruitportal.com