European juice industry in ‘grave danger’ say French juicers

And with the cost of fruit making up between 60-80% of production costs, it said juice manufacturers were much worse off than other sectors.  

Erratic weather was down to the return of El Nino, which had destroyed pineapple crops in Central America, while a drought in India had hit supplies of mangoes.

Supplies of pineapple from Thailand have been particularly bad hit, with the price of concentrate increasing almost four-fold in just one year.

The French Union Nationale Interprofessionnelle de Jus de Fruit UNIJUS said: “Combined with the dollar effect, the price rise [for pineapple] has reached 450%! The additional cost for manufacturers corresponds to 40 cents (€) per litre, which makes this fruit inaccessible.”​

UNIJUS secretary general, Thomas Gauthier, partly put the supply problems down to increased competition weighing in from other more profitable market opportunities, such as fruit compote or fruit salad.

Meanwhile more and more growers were converting their orchards to more profitable, less weather-vulnerable corn or soy.

UNIJUS has called it “one of the most tense situations in the past decade.”​

Solution in sight?​

Gauthier told FoodNavigator that a long-term solution would be more orchards dedicated solely to the juice industry, while the obvious short-term solution was to raise consumer prices – but this was not currently an option.

“It [would be] very difficult due to the low price war that the French retailers are all having. Consumer prices fell during past year and this year is not well oriented. Moreover, the purchasing bodies of retailers are concentrating and there are only 4 major clients left in France. ​UNIJUS represent the French Industry, but the situation is the same all over Europe and in Western countries because the suppliers are roughly the same.”​

UNIJUS warned that because the rising costs were not being passed onto consumers, some manufacturers had already planned to freeze investment, hiring and were considering restructuring.

Fruit juice sales are also being worn down by changing consumer habits.

In 2009 UNIJUS claimed the French market for fruit juice was recession-proof with sales of fruit juice remaining strong despite the tough economic climate. But even then data from Nielsen showed that consumers were changing habits, switching to ambient brands which tend to be cheaper with a longer shelf-life.

Gauthier said that in France juice was traditionally drunk in the morning but that fewer people were having a ‘proper breakfast’ which was also eroding sales.

According to a 2015 report by the European Fruit Juice Association, AIJN, Western Europe was the second biggest market for fruit juices in the world after North America. Malta had the largest per capita consumption of fruit juice and nectar in the region, followed by Germany.