Dutch top fruit growers have had a difficult year. The Russian food boycott combined with overcapacity on the Europe market caused the efficiency to come under firm pressure, especially in the first half of the season. The returns were over 19 percent lower than a year ago. ABN AMRO thinks that growers can improve the return by switching their focus to new varieties and sales markets, or by better valourisation of traditional varieties. Club varieties are gaining popularity, due to higher average return prices for instance. In the apple cultivation club varieties are now 15 percent of the total area and there are also gradually more introductions from new varieties in pears. ABN AMRO expects the rise of club varieties to continue over the next few years. The choice of variety is tied to the choice of a sales market and the manner of selling. For club varieties the freedom of choice is limited. Besides growers who choose to supply though sales organisations, there is a growing group who are choosing for 'own sales', for instance through middlemen or through the online sales channel.
Marketing fruit differently
Free growers are continually looking for new opportunities to add value to their product. To remove themselves from the whims of the cost price market, entrepreneurs are looking for alternatives for the sale of their product. They do this by, for instance, no longer selling the fruit as a bulk product, but instead adding value by peeling, cutting or juicing it. This way they can enter new sales markets which can give the returns an impulse. Besides entrepreneurship, investments and enough size is needed for this. Growers who cannot make these investments, look for other ways to get their products in the market, for instance by starting a country shop or by making agreements with local businesses about the sales of their fruit.
Less apples than pear
Although the total area in the fruit cultivation is reasonably stable, the area of apple trees has decreased by 23 percent since 2004. This is mainly due to a decline in the planting of traditional apple varieties such as Elstar and Jonagold. These varieties are not definitive enough and therefore face competition from other European countries, where the costing price is considerably lower. This makes growers look for alternatives. The cultivation of pears is on the rise, partially due to the favourable climate for pears in the Netherlands. The area of pears has increased by 32 percent since 2004. Over 70 percent of the total pear planting is the variety Conference. ABN AMRO expects the production in Europe to be lower than last year for both apples and pears. The production of apples will likely decrease by 5 percent and 4 percent less pears are expected to be grown.