VI.P, l'Associazione delle Cooperative Ortofrutticole della Val Venosta, were questioned about the apple market. It emerged that different countries tend to prefer different varieties depending on their history and culture.
"These differences concern mainly variety, grade, colour and also depend on distance and packaging, which protects the fruit."
Big differences
According to VI.P-Val Venosta, Southern Europe prefers sweeter varieties, whereas Northern and Eastern Europe tend to choose more acidic ones. Despite this, varieties such as Gala, are popular from Norway to Malta and from Portugal to Poland."
"As regards grades, Central-Northern Europe prefers medium-small grades whereas Southern Europe likes medium-big ones, or in the case of Spain, even bigger. North Africa and the Middle East tend to vary according to the individual country and to the price."
Colour is yet another variable. "If we take for example Golden Delicious, Southern Europe and the Mediterranean prefer yellow ones whereas Northern and Eastern Europe prefer green ones."
"Finally, there are considerable differences concerning packaging due to different cost and logistic needs."
Each to their own
If we consider the single apple varieties, we can see how specific cultivars are preferred according to national production or the historic presence of a variety which set the trend for future preferences.
"In some Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern countries (Egypt, Israel and UAE), for example, the produce exported from the US was the first to appear on the market. As the first apples available were Red Delicious, they were identified as top of the range and are still considered premium. The same happened in India."
"Other producer countries like Brazil are very interesting counter-seasonal markets, however, as consumers are used to their domestic produce, they tend to prefer similar apples (medium-small Gala and Fuji)."
Purchasing periods
In additional to the natural Northern-Southern hemisphere division, there are other differences.
"It all depends on domestic production. In those countries where there is a lot of domestic produce, the beginning of the season is usually slow for imports, which increase during the second half. Of course, where there is no domestic produce a bigger share of the market is available."
"A second factor is the mix of the main exporters (leaders and followers) which of course influence demand with their supply."
The main differences between East and West
"Talking about Europe, Western markets are more mature and dominated by retailers, so customers look for higher quality produce and are prepared to pay the relative price. Eastern countries still have more traditional markets, which look for the produce with the lowest price. Of course Poland, being the leading supplier for Eastern Europe, influences the whole market."
"Outside of Europe, the situation is the opposite. The farther you go, the more logistic costs affect the produce, so it must be premium and of the highest quality, thus having to compete with other domestic fruit and/or nearer exporters. You need the right quality to manage entering those markets."
