Organics

AMS are currently supplying two of the four main lines to ASDA which are the grape from South Africa and Kiwi from Europe.

Grape: After working USA Crimson Grape and White seedless from Brazil until Christmas we moved into South African fruit which we are now supplying. We aim to increase sales and weight by moving the 200g punnet to a 400g punnet at the same price to meet the required push put to us by our supplier. The outlook is that this will be a very good year with large crops predicted. The grape is currently White Seedless varieties called Prime and Regal from Orange River, the supply will then switch to the south faced Bery Valley where white seedless will be supported by Sunred and Crimson varieties. Chile is due to start in the third week of February.

Kiwi fruit: After a long spell of supply from the Southern Hemisphere, we are now sourcing fruit from European suppliers. To start, the majority of volume will be available from Italy and Greece who are said to have a strong supply. Sales have already been steady at about 500 cases per week.

Plums: Unfortunately there has been little supply of organic plums available through the winter months so we have been out of this line since November. We are now due to restart shortly as fruit from Argentina via Sea Freight is now available, ASDA week 5. Varieties we are likely to work from Argentina until March are Santa Rosa, Linda Rosa, Larry Ann and Angeleno's. Supply will then be switched to Chile where we will see Santa Rosa and Roysum. South Africa will support the Argentinian season through February when necessary. Planning for the summer season is in progress and the supply of plums is expected from a number of European sources, the bulk of which will be Spanish and Italian.

Strawberry: Supply issues and quality have been an issue throughout the winter for organic strawberry where supply is minimal. We have received a number of samples recently from Spain and expect to restart this line with ASDA in week 5.

Other developments: Procurements development of organic citrus, lemons, grapefruit, raspberries and Avocados are well under way with proposals to ASDA to extend our product range in progress for the near future.

Spring 2003