"We have had three to four good years in a row," said Darren Drury, executive general manager, pipfruit at T&G Global. "The 2000’s were a tough period for the New Zealand industry but as we have diversified our varietal mix and market focus, we have been able to improve returns for the growers."
Darren said that this year has been more challenging with most markets being firm, but with some key Asian markets showing fatigue towards the end of the season.
"China has performed well for T&G in 2017 with our dedicated office in Shanghai providing strong support across marketing and promotions. We also believe having a dedicated office in China gives us an advantage in timely market intelligence enabling us to avoid market drops and take full advantage of shortages. We have focused our efforts in China around Envy™ and JAZZ™, with both varieties being in short supply all season due to strong demand. We supplement our main programs with Royal Gala and Pacific Queen.”
New look JAZZ™
The JAZZ™ apple began a brand refresh in February 2017 which was a major step as the imagery has not changed significantly since it was launched in the early 2000’s.
"We wanted to give our retailers and consumers something a little different, a little bit more eye catching," said Darren. "Initially there was some mixed feedback from some of our stakeholders who were uncomfortable with the change. However, we have had overwhelming positive feedback since the launch across our supply chain, but most importantly with consumers. They love it saying it is 'simple and really fresh', so we think it has been a real success."
Envy™ recently supported Elle Fashion Week in Bangkok for the first time which, according to Darren, was a natural fit given its premium brand positioning and the target audience.
"We were delighted to make a healthy addition to Elle Fashion Week given the show’s focus on trends. Wellbeing is a hot topic and we are passionate about supporting this through our fresh apples and produce.”
European season
"European apple estimates are down this year but our suppliers have taken measures to protect their high value crops with the impact of the frosts being minimised. Like everyone we have lost some supply to frost and hail but overall our volumes in Europe are increasing, so with the growth in hectares we should have a small increase for the 2017/2018 season."
T&G are focused on building their Asian offices with specific focus on China, Thailand and Japan.
"We are concentrating our sales efforts on key markets like Vietnam which has shown impressive growth. Our regional offices are positioned to support that growth across the Asian region.
"We are also focusing our regional offices on supporting the growth of our business with more resource being allocated to marketing and promotion.”
New varieties
With so many new apple varieties on the market these days how can the well known varieties hold on to their markets?
"I think it draws positive attention to the apple sector and it is great that people are innovating and trying new things. The problem for the sector as a whole is that we all need to get that shelf space from the retailers, for them to need our product for their shelves and very often a new brand or product can create that pull. We think it is positive that people are talking about new brands but I still think the challenge for anybody with a new variety is to actually have a few things behind them, such as volume and the ability to supply on a regular basis. We are pretty comfortable, we see some good new varieties out there and that kind of energy in the apple category is positive."
The future
T&G is continuing to grow its business and deliver to its strategy.
“We are planting apples every year in New Zealand, setting up for the future and trying to be a lot more holistic in the way that we are planting orchards to be more efficient as producers. We see the growth of our plantings outside of New Zealand as integral to the next phase of our growth and are excited at the opportunities the T&G model provides,” Darren said.
