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“I have seen the best ever apple season in my 40-year career,” states Tony Fissette, head of Enzafruit Europe. Jazz™, Braeburn, Cox’s, Royal Gala and Pink Lady™ varieties have seen their shipments from New Zealand to Europe achieve record price levels. An accumulation of several factors has made this possible: a shorter, historic European crop in 2012 (with no stock by the end of the season), a later start to the summer fruit season, and again a later European winter crop for 2013.  The Enzafruit group’s 2013 export season is ending with nearly 5 million cartons (18kg). “This is just the volume and size we want for our customers.” 
The total New Zealand apple crop for 2013 amounted to around 17 million cartons of 18kg. This is mainly segmented between Royal Gala, the number one variety with 5 million boxes, Braeburn with 3.5 million cartons (still on the decline), and the Jazz™ variety with 2.5 million boxes. Enzafruit is concentrating its new plantings on the Jazz™ and Envy™ varieties. 
In the coming 3 years, for instance, there will be extra Jazz™ plantings of 110 hectares in Europe, meaning an increase of 15%. This means that by 2017, Jazz™ production in Europe will be around 1.5 million cartons (with more than 1 million cartons from France and Italy, and the rest divided between Switzerland and the UK).
As for New Zealand’s Jazz™ produce, the target for 2017 is around 2.5-3 million cartons of 18kg. The USA is also undergoing a very advanced Jazz™ programme of 1.75 million cartons by 2017, with 1.3 million already being packed this year. The newest Envy™ variety is also a much desired newcomer in the premium segment. Just introduced in the USA two years ago, it is already seeing the second best price quotation after Autumn Glory ($50/box), well above Pink Lady and Braeburn ($25/box). The Envy™ variety is a firm, crunchy apple that is sweeter and bigger (60 to 90 mm). Extra plantings of this new exclusive Envy™ variety are being created in New Zealand and also in South Tyrol, with 150 hectares. The current European Jazz™ season is also going very well, as Tony explains.
“We are also seeing a lower European harvest than expected again. We started in October with the same high prices as we had in March, more than 25% above the level of 2012,” Tony points out.

In the 2012/13 marketing season, From® faced a highly unusual market owing to the poor apple harvest in Europe. The lack of high-quality produce brought a steady rise in prices and the limited supplies were naturally allocated to the most loyal clients. The From® mark’s core markets aligned with the European price levels, highlighting the low elasticity of the demand for particular sizes and specific varieties of this premium product.  
The 2014 season got under way with the European crop trending back to normal, leading to confidence that a more balanced price level may make it possible to increase sales volumes, helping to strengthen From®’s stronghold in its core markets, although brand recognition must always be associated with positive connotations. “The objective for this season is to intensify our communications campaign, remembering always that the goal is to increase brand awareness, which is already high in Russia”, said Nicola Zanotelli. “The new products we are offering in Russia include apple juice and pear juice, which we suggest selling alongside the fresh produce in the fruit and vegetable department”. The feedback from the initial trials has been positive, particularly the repeat buying effect among customers who have tried this product, as there is a big difference in quality compared to anything else on the market. The main Russian markets have a strong import structure that does not allow sales strategies to be updated. Specifically, the major retail companies are served by big importers that have become increasingly well adapted to acting as an interface between the European suppliers and the Russian supermarkets.

Cuneo red apples are the most attractive ones grown in the Piedmont region of Italy and the new promotion campaign for their PGI, the Identificazione Geografica Protetta della Mela Rossa Cuneo, is under starter’s orders. It will be run by Assortofrutta through the three PO (producer organisation) members of the PGI’s Protection Consortium: Piemonte Asprofrut, Ortofruit Italia and Lagnasco Group. In this segment of the Piedmontese fruit sector around 200 farms have already registered with the PGI control system, with an estimated overall turnover of €13 million. Emphasizing the special quality of red apples from the Granda (big) province of the Piedmontese valleys, the slogan claims: “Bite into the mountain: quality grows high up!”, setting an almost colloquial tone for the explanation of this recent European recognition that begins: “APPLE, will you tell us about the Cuneo PGI?”. It only takes a few words to respond to the consumers’ desire for quality, and “red, crunchy and sweetly melting” is the unprecedented collection of adjectives that reveals the ‘mystery’ of just how good these prized Cuneo PGI apples are, in all their four varieties: Gala, Red Delicious, Braeburn and Fuji, briefly glimpsed in the background graphics.
As Domenico Sacchetto, chairman of Assortofrutta and of the Cuneo Red Apple PGI Protection Consortium, commented: “This is an important start to help to increase brand recognition and strengthen the nutritional and sustainability values associated with it, both in Italy and abroad. For this reason we thought we would do an online promotional launch on the social networks as well, to ensure high visibility and reach the greatest number and diversity of new customers through a dedicated fan page.” Offline, the major retailers will provide the stage for in-store marketing and various types of consumer sales promotions to complement the cross-media communications through both trade and generalist channels. 

The Melinda consortium, one of the biggest Italian apple producer organizations, aims to achieve 40 % export volume growth by 2017, in comparison to 2013, both by increasing exports to existing destinations and by increasing the number of destinations, particularly outside the EU-28 area. Regarding the conditions in both its own production and the market in general, Melinda anticipates that its own export volumes will trend upwards over 2013/14.  Melinda will back its plans through a significant increase in the resources it devotes both to advertising and promotion in support of its importer partners’ direct selling activities and to generating demand among consumers.  In the course of the 2012/13 season, Melinda exported over 60,000 tonnes of apples to more than 40 countries.  European destinations still take two-thirds of the volume exported, but both African nations like Libya (up by 119.19%) and Middle Eastern countries (a 47.98% rise) are showing an excellent growth trend. Nevertheless, Melinda’s main export markets are still Spain (11.3% of total exports), Algeria (9.7%), Germany (9.7%), Libya (8.89%), Romania (7.68%), Denmark (7.5%) and the Middle East (7.3%).   As regards organic apples, Melinda’s 2013 crop is estimated at around 1,700 tonnes. Melinda – together with Assomela – has obtained EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) certification, and it shows that apples are the fruit with the lowest carbon footprint (370 g CO2/kg) and also have very low water and land use footprints ( (78 l/kg and 0,92 m2/kg respectively). In 2013, Melinda’s continuous commitment to increasing “true sustainability” also led to its launching a project called HYPOGEUM: the plan is to build a 50,000-tonne cold store equipped with DCA (Dynamic Controlled Atmosphere) inside a mountain between now and 2020. It will be the first facility in the world to store apples underground in a DCA. This project once again confirms Melinda’s strong commitment not only to building up its business but also to protecting the environment.

The year 2013 ended well for the Italian group Apofruit, indeed, all three companies– Apofruit Italia, Canova and Mediterraneo Group – registered increased turnover in spite of the lower volumes they had handled.  The kiwi crop was down by 8%, but the quality was better than in the previous year so a greater proportion of supplies was available for marketing. The situation was different in apples and pears, however, where volumes were up by 15% and 5% respectively compared to 2012. 
The group strengthened its strong international impetus still further and the proportion of its turnover generated on foreign markets reached 40%. The regions where Apofruit increased its business most were the Middle East and Far East. Confirming how strategically important these new markets are to the group, Apofruit chose the Asia Fruit Logistica exhibition in September 2013 to present its new brand, Solemio, which is reserved exclusively for its kiwi sales on far Eastern markets. 
Canova, 100% controlled by the Apofruit group, specialises exclusively in marketing organic fruit and vegetables. Its sales are up by 8% compared to 2012, largely thanks to the steady growth of its Almaverde Bio brand. Already a leading mark in the Italian organic produce market, Almaverde Bio is increasingly appreciated and in demand among consumers in other European countries.

From an Italian to a European Brand. This is the path taken in recent years by Marlene®, the brand-name for apples produced by the VOG Consortium, which in 2014 will once again be at the center of an intense promotion campaign in various European countries. It was launched in January in Italy and Spain with a high-impact Marlene® Competition. In both countries, this offers 4 top prizes consisting of a whole week’s free holiday for 2 people in the South Tyrol, at Vitalpina Hotels Südtirol, plus 400 gift vouchers of €40 each for clothing and accessories from the Spreadshirt online store. Until 31 March all Marlene® apple purchasers will be able to take part in this competition simply by connecting to the www.win.marlene.it website and typing in the 9-letter code hidden under every blue apple sticker. After entering their personal details, the purchasers will immediately find out if they are among the 400 lucky voucher winners who will take part in the prize draw for the fantastic top prize. From February through until springtime, Belgian consumers too will be able to try their luck in this exciting competition. In all the countries where the competition takes place, a whole series of supporting communications activities are programmed for its duration, including online and offline advertising, point of sale advertising, social media marketing and intense PR activities. “As it approaches its twentieth birthday, Marlene® continues along the path of European expansion”, comments Gerhard Dichgans, Director of the VOG Consortium. “After the successes achieved in Italy and Spain, our prime brand is setting out to conquer other European markets, where we are confident that operators and consumers will be able to recognize, appreciate and reward the values of quality, expertise, territorial identity and flavour that distinguish it”, Dichgans concludes.