Rosstan Mazey, Global Marketing Manager at T&G, explained that working closely with their European partners has given the company even more opportunities. "We will be growing Jazz apples in Germany and have just recently planted Envy trees in Spain. This year saw the first small volumes of UK grown Envy apples going to Singapore, which was a significant initiative, demonstrating that together, exporting apples from the UK to Asia was a possibility with the potential to do more of this going forward. This was a great option for the larger sized Envy which are sought after in many Asian markets."
UK Envy apples sent to Singapore for the first time
Mazey explains that they continue to see increased demand for both Jazz and Envy, "Despite the tricky challenging European season the consumer is recognising the value in Jazz, the apple has a great tangy sweet flavour and is extremely crunchy offering a very consistent eating quality through time which is helping to drive repeat purchases. Demand has also increased from Asian countries and North America for both Jazz and Envy. The apples provide quite distinct eating experiences, Envy is a large apple with a very sweet refreshing taste and good crunch, a great combination of attributes for consumers with a sweeter palate. With both of these apples in our portfolio we have a strong offering for all markets.”
"We are continually trying to build the brand. We have a new campaign launched first in North America 'Bite & Believe' this is the core direction for Envy, to challenge the consumer to try the product."
Envy has a new global website; www.envyapples.com for the North American market, where they have included a 'Where can I find Envy' function. With high demand for Envy in North America this function is helping consumers to locate the closest Envy to them and engage with the Envy brand at the same time.
Harvesting of new season Royal Gala has just started in New Zealand. Overall the New Zealand crop is 10-12 days later than last year due to a cool start to spring but since Christmas the weather has been very good and is helping improve the quality of the crop with increasing brix levels. "We have had a few hail events which Pipfruit NZ are suggesting has contributed to the overall NZ crop being down by 6%.”
"China was a challenge for NZ exporters last year with the voluntary ban and amended market access protocols coming in to play mid season. For this season the industry in NZ has had time to get crops aligned with the market access protocols. China continues to represent a significant opportunity for us going forward,” explains Mazey.
“Overall we continue to see strong demand for particularly our Jazz and Envy apples around the world. This will be a challenging season but we are encouraged by customer sentiment for the upcoming sales programmes.”
For more information:
Rosstan Mazey
Turners&Growers
rosstan.mazey@turnersandgrowers.com