Fresh Produce
The retailer said that it believed this was thanks in part to a Christmas direct marketing campaign “landing with customers”
Total divisional sales excluding fuel were up 4.7% on last year at Waitrose for the week ending 14 November 2015.
The retailer said that it believed this was thanks in part to a Christmas direct marketing campaign “landing with customers”.
Waitrose’s online channel also delivered, with grocery sales 26.1% higher than last year following a promotion.
Fruit performed well in the period covered, with frozen fruit up by a third, soft fruit up 9%, and pears up 4% respectively.
Sweet potato sales, meanwhile, were up 32% on the same week last year.
Research by mySupermarket.co.uk in October also found that a basket of essentials rose slightly from £85.94 to £86.16 in that month
Morrisons has narrowly come out cheapest in a study of grocery essentials for the month of October.
The monthly study, conducted by mySupermarket.co.uk, the shopping and comparison website, monitors the cost of the same 35 most-commonly bought grocery products.
Overall, it found that a basket of essentials rose slightly from £85.94 in September to £86.16 in October.
The October increase was driven by a sharp rise in the cost of broccoli, up 18%, and mushrooms, up 11%. Only apples fell significantly in price, dropping 11% in price compared to September.
The small rise follows a period of falling grocery prices, with the September basket total of £85.94 having been the lowest in 2015.
mySupermarket analysed the basket cost across the top four supermarkets, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons, plus Waitrose and Ocado, and found significant differences in price.
Morrisons was the cheapest closely followed by Asda. Ocado was most expensive, with Waitrose coming second bottom.
In comparison to a year ago, though, the same basket in October 2014 would have cost shoppers £89.74, a saving of 4%.
Gilad Simhony, CEO of mySupermarket.co.uk, said: “One side effect of the current supermarket price war – the environment in which supermarkets are fighting for shoppers hard earned pounds – is that the cost of grocery staples are being priced very competitively.
“This is great news for shoppers who are looking to make savings. Another side effect, however, is more confusion regarding which of the supermarkets is cheapest as the price of our favourite grocery products can change on a daily basis. Shoppers need to be aware and take control of their weekly shop as the differences in price can be huge.”
Nationwide Produce and Three Musketeers are donating 50p from every box of mint potatoes to support the Poppy Appeal
Nationwide Produce and Suffolk potato grower Three Musketeers will donate 50p to The Royal British Legion from every box of mint salad potatoes they sell during the three-week appeal.
After Edward Blanchard from Three Musketeers, and Nationwide’s Tim O’Malley, were moved by visiting Ypres, they decided to replace the mint leaf on packaging with a poppy in aid of the charity.
Backed by Michelin-starred chef Mark Poynton, the ‘Poppy Boxes’ went on sale on Wednesday 21 October at wholesalers and foodservice firms. O’Malley said: “This is a unique opportunity for buyers to support the Poppy Appeal while also backing British farming.
“We’re only five days into this promotion and the uplift in sales would already indicate that the amount we will raise for the Poppy Appeal will be closer to £15,000 than our original estimate of £10,000. The general reaction to this promotion from our customers has been very positive.”
Blanchard said it is “a great honour to help remember those that shouldn’t be forgotten” and asked the produce industry to support the initiative. “Chefs and buyers throughout the country, you can help us to raise some much-needed funds. Simply buy a product you already enjoy or swap from your usual supply and order a ‘Poppy Box’ of our Mint salad potatoes for the first time,” he said.
Staff really supported and got behind the Sue Ryder Hospice at Thorpe Hall in Peterborough by helping to clear the site’s garden
Veg giant Produce World has raised £1,4k to help fund a new hospice.
Not only that, but Produce World Group staff, family and friends also got behind the Sue Ryder Hospice at Thorpe Hall in Peterborough by spending a day helping to clear the site’s walled kitchen garden.
Thorpe’s Hall’s historic walled garden had fallen into disrepair, but the hospice now has ambitious plans to start growing vegetables again and create a children’s play area. Staff, family and friends from Produce World spent one of the hottest days of the year earlier this week (w/c 29 June) clearing the ground for the new project.
Rachel Ilgunas, from Produce World, said: “The volunteers went above and beyond the call of duty, working well into the evening to finish clearing this area. We have been supporting Thorpe Hall throughout the year, and we were delighted to be able to make a substantial contribution in time and money to the fantastic work that they do.”
Hospice fundraiser Nilesh Patel, said: “I have to say a big thank you to all the volunteers from Produce World who have really made a big difference to our project to restore the walled kitchen garden to its former glory. We are most grateful for the £1,400 donated and for all the support we have received from the Produce World Group.”
The cheque was handed over by Produce World’s group financial director Phil Jones.
Event will cover R&D, knowledge transfer, the Yes Peas! promotion campaign, and industry insights, among other topics
The first-ever UK Vining Pea Conference is to be sponsored by Syngenta.
The event, to be held on November 11th at PGRO near Peterborough, will cover Reasearch & Development, knowledge transfer, the Yes Peas! promotion campaign, industry insights, health and safety, and research into crop association membership.
It will culminate with keynote speaker Brian Youngs, from the British Frozen Food Federation.
Rebecca Stilton, Syngenta vegetable campaign manager, said: “The inaugural Vining Pea Conference promises to showcase the latest agronomic advances for growers, which is entirely consistent with Syngenta’s commitment to help vining pea growers produce higher yielding crops of quality peas. We welcome the opportunity to support this exciting event for the whole industry.”
The conference is aimed at growers, managers, agronomists, processors, seed companies, crop protection specialists and machinery manufacturers from the vining pea industry.
It is also free to attend if you pre-register.
A shipment of the fruit has been rejected in the Netherlands due to the presence of fruit fly
An airfreighted consignment of mangoes from Pakistan has been turned away in Amsterdam after the presence of fruit fly was discovered by inspectors.
The rejection of the mangoes marks the first time this season that any volumes of the fruit from Pakistan has been rejected by the EU, the Express Tribune reported.
“This is the first rejection of any mango consignment this season,” explained Dr Mubarak Ahmed, director general of Pakistan’s Department of Plant Protection. “We have further tightened up the clearance measures to control the situation.”
Prior to last week’s discovery, which was made in a 4.5 tonne consignment of the fruit, Pakistan has exported some 26,000 tonnes of mangoes to the European Union so far this export campaign.
Retailer lists ‘first-ever’ Bangladeshi mangoes exported to mainstream European markets
Asda will this week receive the first delivery of Bangladeshi mangoes to the UK in a move that signals the start of the country’s access to mainstream international retailers.
The news comes following field visits and sample shipments of nine mango varieties during last year’s season, Bangladeshi local paper The Dhaka Tribune reported. Asda’s buying arm IPL then selected three mango varieties, Himsagar, Langra and BARI Aam-3 (Amrupalli), to import during the 2015 season, the paper said.
A spokeperson for Asda said: “We are due a delivery of the Himsagar variety mangoes from Bangladesh this week and they’ll be available in 10 stores.”
Vice chairman of Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Shubhashish Bose, told The Dhaka Tribune: “The mango exports to UK will open the door of earning foreign currencies and will also help the government to start for product diversification.”
Mike Robson, representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to Bangladesh, said: “I am really excited to say that mangoes from Bangladesh have market access to UK, meaning it will open a gateway for other supermarkets in Europe.”
Over 150 farmers across the three districts of Satkhira, Chapainawabganj and Rajshahi have now been registered to supply mangoes, the Dhaka Tribune said.
Organisers say there will be a bumper programme of technical seminars and parallel events at this year’s show
Preparations for the 2015 edition of Fruit Attraction are well underway and this year’s fair will feature an extensive programme of technical seminars and parallel activities and sector-specific events, according to organisers Ifema and Fepex.
These include the second edition of Stone Fruit Attraction, which will be held on October 29, and will shine a spotlight on the diversity and variety of Spain’s stonefruit offer that enables the country to be the only Northern Hemisphere country able to supply the market for six months of the year (April to November).
The seventh edition of Fruit Attarction, which is expected to be the biggest yet, will also host the first congress for kakis, Kaki Attraction, to address the growing prominence of this product in Spain’s fresh produce basket.
Other highlights include the “Oganic Hub”, a space dedicated to organic fruits and vegetables and a parallel session on the afternoon of 28 October entitle “Markets and marketing of organic fruits and vegetables in Europe”, promoted by F&H, as well as Fruit Retail, an event organised by Alimarket, and the II Forum of Agri-journalists, which will focus on an analysis of the production and marketing of European fresh produce.
Meanwhile, Fruit Fusion, featuring cooking demonstrations from some of the best chefs in the country, will once again be a key part of the three-day event, as will Pasarela Innova, a space to showcase new varieties, and Foro Innova, an area featuring presentations on the latest developments in the industry.
New clementine variety ripens three weeks earlier than Clemenules
Chile has high hopes for a new licensed citrus variety that was recently launched on the global market. Clemenluz, or Andes 1, is an early maturing clementine which resulted from a spontaneous mutation of the Clemenules variety.
Clemenluz has similar characteristics to Clemenules – being of good quality, intense colour and seedless – but ripens three weeks earlier.
It has been planted in Chile for a number of years and is now being rolled out commercially in South Africa, Spain, Morocco and Egypt.
Andes New Varieties Association (ANA), the company that manages the licensing and certification of the variety, said it is also in talks with growers in a number of other countries such as Argentina, the US and Uruguay.