Fruit Sector
DOWNLOADMarch 31, 2005 - Getachew Abate and H Christopher Peterson
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Consumption trend and market drivers
In general, fruit consumption is on the rise. However, not all fruit categories show an increasing trend. For example, fresh fruit consumption has seen a significant growth in the past few years, while consumption of canned fruits and frozen fruits has declined during the same period. Fruit juice and juice drinks consumption has remained flat.
The domestic demand for fruit products is shaped by a myriad of market forces. A combination of factors such as wellness, indulgence, convenience, ethnicity, value, and demographic forces acting interdependently or independently, influence consumption patterns and demand for fruit products.
Growing number of new products
Overall, new product numbers (new products and new variety/range extensions) across all fruit categories have seen a steady growth during the last couple of years. More than 4,500 products have been introduced in major global markets in the first nine months of 2004. New products have been introduced in 11 product categories including products in the main fruit category (fresh and minimally processed fruit, fruit juice and juice drinks, canned fruits, dried fruits, frozen fruits), and fruit-containing products (spreads, confectionaries, dairy products, frozen desserts, non-alcoholic beverages excluding juices, and alcoholic beverages).
The new products have a broad array of diversity in their flavor combinations, product mixes, forms, appearances and size. They have positioned themselves as ready-to-eat healthy snacks, salads, side dishes, desserts, breakfast food etc. They are coming with different innovative package designs being more convenient, highly portable and storable. Some new products are targeting specific consumer groups (e.g., products designed for school children or women, products for different ethnic markets, etc.), while others enter the market in the upscale and gourmet product lines. There are also new products that are entering the market tied to special occasions (e.g., products introduced featuring a specific film or making a tie-in with the film’s launching time), while others are coming as a substitute to other products (e.g., juice drinks as alternative breakfast foods, fruit-containing dairy products as whole meal replacements).
