Product developers and fruit processors could feel the squeeze as Bramley apple prices rocket due to poor weather, which has resulted in lower than expected yields and smaller fruit sizes.
While The Grocer reported last week that cider and juice manufacturers could be left short of apples this year, fruit fillings processor Fourayes claimed manufacturers currently selling Bramley apple produce should not be affected. However, the situation could well force those planning to use the fruit in product launches to think twice.
Fourayes md Phil Acock explained: “We commit a volume and a set price to our customers - Samworth Brothers, McCambridge and Heinz - from the outset of the season. But manufacturers that develop a new product using Bramley apples and want to launch later in the year will have to pay higher prices for their ingredients.”
Fruit processors would also suffer said Fourayes. “We are left exposed to price rises as we continue to buy apples throughout the season,” said Acock. “We peel by numbers - at the moment our machines peel 100 apples per minute - so you can see that if we put small apples through, instead of larger ones, then our recovery [the amount of flesh remaining once the apple is cored], and our output are both reduced.”
But he said he had found ways to deal with the problem. “This has encouraged us to improve our efficiency. For example, we could reduce the core tube size [the amount of apple removed when it is cored].”
And in order to avoid being caught short next year, the company, which currently grows 1,300t of apples and processes 10,000t, had big plans for growth, said Acock. “We’re certainly looking to expand our growing base. If we could more than double what we grow, that would be great.”