“We are expecting our early-season pomegranate harvest to start around September 15th,” says David Anthony with Ruby Fresh. By mid-October harvest of the popular Wonderful variety will start. “It is important to offer an early variety for our customers in Canada who celebrate Thanksgiving Day on October 12, prior to the arrival of the Wonderful variety,” mentioned Anthony.
Wonderful variety
“Volume of Wonderful pomegranates is estimated to be similar to last season and will be strong from mid-October through the Thanksgiving Day pull with a resurgence in fresh pomegranate demand prior to Christmas,” said Anthony. Early indicators show that sizing will be trending toward larger size fruit, with size 22-24 being the peak size. Based on retail commitments, Ruby Fresh expects to be sold out of whole pomegranates by the first week of January.
Substantial growth in arils
In addition to whole pomegranates, fresh arils are becoming increasingly important for Ruby Fresh. Last season was a breakout year as the company realized 40 percent growth in aril shipment over the previous year. “Due to high demand, we expanded our aril packing capacity this summer,” commented Anthony. “We doubled the number of arils we can ship in a season.” Much of this additional capacity has already been committed to new aril customers for the upcoming season. “It shows the continuing and growing popularity of this healthy fruit snack.” Ruby Fresh’ arils are all from the Wonderful variety with its deep red color and excellent flavor. Their window of availability is between mid-October and March. In April of next year, Ruby Fresh will start its import program from South America.
Retailer packaging
For fresh pomegranates the two-layer tray pack is popular in the US and Canada. Most retailers start off the season with large display bins to establish customer awareness. They re-fill the fruit with two-layer cartons during the season. Open top Euro display boxes that form a mini display are also popular and so is the company’s 4-count clamshell pack. About 80 percent of the company’s whole pomegranates are shipped within the US and Canada. The remainder is exported to the Pacific Rim and Europe to a lesser extent. Pomegranate arils are all distributed within the US and Canada. The arils are available in 4 oz., 5.3 oz. snack cups as well as multi-packs of two or four cups.
Please visit us at booth #3375 at the PMA Fresh Summit!
For more information:
David Anthony
Ruby Fresh Pomegranates
Tel: +1 559-933-0340