But he assures that Jazz and Pink Lady apples will still be on the shelves, "The first traditional UK varieties are on the shelves along side Southern Hemisphere Jazz apples, the domestic varieties are retailing at around £1 per bag whereas with Jazz we are around the £2 price point. Interesting point is that we are still maintaining our weekly Jazz sales volumes despite the price disparity, with our loyal customers that buy week in, week out. For the New Season, we will move into European Jazz at the end of October and then UK grown fruit at the end of November. Overall this season, and with new plantings coming into production, we expect to sell +15% more than 2013/14, which in itself was a record volume season for us. All up we are planning to sell over 8000 tonnes in the Northern Hemisphere 2014/15 season. Fruit quality is looking fantastic, and because Jazz is a relatively late cropper, we have really benefited from the Indian Summer that UK and Europe is currently experiencing. We cannot wait to get started."
Worldwide Fruit supply all the main retailers in the UK and sell the largest proportion of apples in the country. Harrison explained that Enza New Zealand, owners of the Jazz brand have been very active in the last few years in developing alternative and emerging markets such as Asia and the Far East. This has benefited Jazz growers worldwide as the popularity of Jazz spreads around the globe, and for sure there are very exciting plans already in place for the rest of 2014 and into 2015.”
For more information:Garry Harrison
Worldwide Fruit
Email: Gary.Harrison@Worldwidefruit.co.uk
Tel: 0044 1775 717027