The plum season is not there yet, but the forecast has negative and positive aspects. "Concerning forecast, at this stage, the harvest is announced as normal in traditional varieties, like Greengage, variety expected by our French Belgian and English customers in particular. On the other side, a deficit is emerging in TC Sun, October Sun and Rubycrunch, varieties which represent a good third of our volumes." Blue Whale will be particularly affected by this reduction because the deficit seems to be even more pronounced in the South-East and in the Loire Valley.
"When we are talking about "plums" we must also think about peach and nectarine markets side, our direct competitors on shelves." Europêch’ Statistics shows relative stability in the European offer (-2%), but with a production drop of around 12% in France.
"The Spanish offer of flat peaches carries on its development, which worries some operators on the market ability to absorb this growth. Finally, peach and nectarine will be present later in the season: about 10 days longer than last season, year when the fruit had liberated the market early for our TC Sun and other Rubycrunch."
Nevertheless the company wants to be optimistic about the new season. "Like last year, our segmentation will focus on our two core brands: Estiva® by Blue Whale (which will now be exclusively sold by Blue Whale) and Metis®." This season, Metis® volumes will be significant. The forecast is 600 T. "The brand is segmented to give visibility to our customers and consumers, in the diverse Metis® choice. So we will market September Yummy variety in the segment Metis Tonic® (red fruit with yellow flesh)."
