Traditionally, nuts and dried fruit regain the consumer's attention from the fall onwards. The marketing window, however, tends to become longer, observes Matthias Krings, specialized wholesaler and managing director of Sunnyday Ltd, based in Wermelskirchen. "Our main season is not only focused on autumn and the pre-Christmas period, but it now extends all the way to Easter."
Founded in 2006, the company offers a full range of both unprocessed raw and processed products. The premium products will reach retailers (60%) and restaurateurs (40%) throughout Germany via local wholesale markets. Krings: "This year's season got off to a particularly good start. Despite the inflation, we don't see any major upward outliers with respect to prices."
Turkish dried figs and apricots, Chilean walnuts
One of the most important source countries in terms of nuts and dried fruits has always been Turkey. After the end of the fresh season in mid-October, they traditionally start shipping out the first dried figs and apricots. "Turkey has by far the largest market share worldwide in these product segments. In the past, we have also had imports from South Africa and Australia, but in terms of price and quality, these countries cannot compete."
Meanwhile, regarding walnuts, the company is fully involved in the Chilean campaign, Krings continues. "In terms of quality and volume availability, we have the best experiences with Chile. Until a few years ago, France was a fixed part of the range at this time of year as well, but we can now cover almost the entire demand up to Christmas with Chilean goods, which is why we can do without France. Occasionally, we also purchase domestic goods. German walnut cultivation is limited, but it is trending upward."
Sunnyday offers a wide selection of new and tried-and-true products, from classics such as walnuts and trail mixes to cranberries and physalis to delicacies such as chocolate dates.
Crisis-resistant product segment
After two years of Covid, the global market has largely been able to recover, Krings further states. "At the height of the crisis, there inevitably were shortages of goods, especially tropical fruits from Thailand and China. At the moment, fortunately, we are back to normal with a healthy procurement situation. In this respect, nuts and dried fruit are establishing themselves as a particularly crisis-resistant product segment. Accordingly, we are confidently looking forward to the new marketing season, although we too have to contend with considerable additional costs in terms of packaging materials and transport. Rising energy prices, on the other hand, affect us less, as we invested in photovoltaics last year, which immediately proved its worth."
Matthias Krings
Healthy food and sustainability
On the sales side, Krings says the impact of inflation has been minimal so far. "We don't feel any measurable effect yet, even though we are in a premium segment. Trade during the summer was very pleasing, especially the catering trade, and the first food retail promotions already started in October. Only with regard to Christmas markets - which have always been an important sales market for nuts and dried fruit - do we have to expect renewed restrictions and a corresponding drop in demand this year."
From a longer-term perspective, nuts and dried fruit continue to be on trend. Says Krings: "The increased focus on healthy nutrition and sustainability is definitely playing right into our hands. Furthermore, our products are predominantly marketed loose at retailers, which is in line with the trend towards a weekly market atmosphere and creating the experience at the POS. Apart from that, we are also seeing increasing demand in the office and corporate fruit sectors, as well as in unpacked stores. We are therefore in good spirits and we are committed to further exploiting this increased demand by introducing new varieties - whether peppered, roasted, sugared or freeze-dried - to the market."
For more information:
Matthias Krings
Sunnyday GmbH
Grüne Straße 14-18
42929 Wermelskirchen
Tel: +49 (0)2196 / 57-61
Fax: +49 (0)2196 / 958-51
Mail: info@sunnyday.eu
Website: www.sunnyday-fruits.com