Along with yellow/orange, green is also a popular colour this time of year and Daniel Larsson from Hebe Frukt & Grönt AB said that there is an increase in the import of green asparagus, spring onions, melons (perfect because it is both green and yellowish orange), exotics such as passion fruit and mangoes for salads, along with berries, strawberries in particular.
Mangoes are imported by air from Brazil and Mexico. This year has stayed pretty much the same in terms of supply, but Daniel has noticed that the demand has increased dramatically, especially for ready-to-eat. Consumers have shown preference to mangoes from Brazil because they are ripened on the tree as opposed to later in Europe.
Daniel Larsson with Hebes' offering of Bella Donna tomatoes, melons and mangoes.
"What we see is that the demand from the market for ready-to-eat fruits sent by air is steadily increasing. There is less and less focus on price and more focus on quality and taste. There seems to be a change in the mindset of consumers and they are really interested in tasty, healthy food. Instead of buying a lot of food, they buy a little less and what they buy has to be of high quality. We see the same trend in fruits such as pineapples, we are selling more ready-to-eat pineapples that are much sweeter than the tasteless pineapples of the past." said Larsson.
"We are searching for everything that is flavourful. For instance, Bella Donna vine tomatoes from Holland, the taste is always great with lots of flavour, we are looking for products like that."
Along with a big push for quality products, consumers also want to hear the story about where it comes from. Who is the grower, how is the farm run? They are interested in hearing the story about the grower and are even happier when they get to see a picture of him/her. It is this personal connection to the food they are eating that is important to the customer.
There is also more of a personal connection with the product itself. Consumers want to know more about the product. Gone are the days when a strawberry was just called a strawberry, it is now called by its variety, like "Charlotte". The public is getting to know the differences between varieties in the various product groups and what makes them special.
Portion packaging is also very popular, specialised for families and single households. For example, a 4 kilo bag of white cabbage is too much for most consumers, so they have switch to smaller and more personalised sizes to fit customer needs. This is also the case for packed salad.
On the flip size, customers look for bigger sizes when it come to oranges and pineapples.
For more information:
Anita Jansson
Hebe Frukt & Grönt AB
Tel: +46 31 780 27 00
Fax: +46 31 19 33 28
Email: [email protected]
www.hebe.se
