Fresh Point Magazine - B2B24 - Il Sole 24 Ore

saving units produced by GNA, and Tecnoceam,
which makes labour-saving corer and slicer lines.
Recession spells market downswing
The fresh-cut market as a whole has posted explosive
growth rates over the last decade, and today Italy is
the second largest market in Europe behind the UK.
According to Ismea-Nielsen survey data, the industry
posted its first, and only, minus signs, albeit to a very
limited extent, only in 2008, when volumes were off
1.4% and receipts slid 3.8%. The performance had
competitors and rivals scrambling to find the right
response, a situation that led some to revisit their
marketing strategies and pricing policies and others
to accelerate pursuit of suitable alliances with big
retail. Yet by the following year the market had
rebounded considerably, with receipts up 5.8% for a
€700 million turnover and sales volumes at 146 thousand
tons, up a solid 11% on the year.
A number of reasons can be adduced for the trade’s hiccup,
some arising from external factors like the global
financial meltdown and others from internal sources like
efficiency-induced restructuring in the supply chain.
For example, it’s easy to see that the recession-buffeted
economy led consumers to seek out lower-priced
items of similar kind. Note in this connection that
among the rate variations from 2005 to 2009 shown in
Table 1 fresh-cut sales fell in 2008 whereas turnover of
fresh and frozen vegetables rose. Even if some market
surveys suggest that the price factor has little influence
on consumer preferences, it is likely that a fair
share of the consuming public decided to buy fresh
bulk produce in times of a pinched economy.
Yet despite this line of reasoning, the following year
saw fresh-cut vegetable items posting a solid performance
in terms of both volume and receipts. This
was a sure signal showing that in actual fact the
industry proved to be resilient enough to respond rapidly
to ebb and flow of market forces.
The lion’s share of the fresh-cut trade today goes to
salads, with a market share of 86% in 2009, followed
by heat’n’eat, raw and dressed bowls of vegetables
with 9%, 4% and 2% shares, respectively.
Most of the fresh-cut salad sales belong to crispy
mixed items at 34%, even though single-portions of
rocket, baby leaf and garden valerian together combine
for a 35% share and have been the trade’s most
dynamic sector for several years now (Fig. 2).
Figure 3 shows that consumer demand in Italy is
mostly located in the northwest quadrant, which
accounts for 41% of receipts and 40% of volume.
While the South still represents no more than 12% in
turnover and 13% in volume, the last few years have
seen regions in the South gain in both categories. In
effect, Ismea-Nielsen survey data show that fresh-cut
items accounted for 2.7% of all vegetable purchases
Figure 2 – Fresh, canned & fresh-cut vegetable prices compared.
Figura 2 – Prezzi a confronto (%).
Ortaggi freschi
Ortaggi in scatola
Ortaggi surgelati
Ortaggi cotti V gamma
1,0
TAB. 2 - PREZZI MEDI DELLA IV GAMMA
2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0
Quante volte costa di più la IV gamma?
Fonte: elaborazioni Università degli Studi di Milano su dati Ismea-Nielsen
2009 (€) Var. 2009-05 (%)
Ipermercati 7,83 -8
Supermercati 8,16 -4
Hard discount 5,61 -7
Libero servizio 7,82 -12
Altri 8,62 1
Totale Italia 7,79 -7
Fonte: elaborazioni Università degli Studi di Milano su dati Ismea-Nielsen
ciò si aggiunga che rispetto al 2005 l’importanza di questi
prodotti è in aumento.
Si riduce la differenza di prezzo
Mediamente un’insalata lavata e confezionata pronta
all’uso costa 6 volte di più del corrispettivo prodotto di I
gamma e i prezzi risultano più elevati anche rispetto agli
altri prodotti orticoli.
In base a elaborazioni svolte con i dati Ismea-Nielsen
risulta, ad esempio, che mediamente la IV gamma
viene pagata 4,4 volte di più degli ortaggi freschi o in
scatola e 2,5 volte in più degli ortaggi surgelati (fig. 4).
Tuttavia negli ultimi 5 anni il differenziale di prezzo tende
a ridursi per tutte le categorie, in particolare rispetto agli
ortaggi freschi.
Pur considerando che i prezzi elevati non si ritrovano tra
le principali cause di “non acquisto”, tuttavia in seguito
alla recente battuta d’arresto del mercato i produttori e i
distributori sono intervenuti in modo deciso sulla leva
prezzo. Ne è prova la diminuzione registrata negli ultimi
due anni: dal 2007 al 2009 si è passati da un prezzo
medio pari a 8,38 €/kg a 7,79 €/kg.
I prezzi della IV gamma mostrano un’ulteriore particolarità
rappresentata dalla forte differenziazione geografica.
Se il consumatore del Nord-Ovest paga mediamente
8 €/kg per l’acquisto di un prodotto di IV gamma, al
Sud tale cifra scende di 70 centesimi; anche in questo
Fresh Point Magazine n.10 – october/ottobre 2010
2009
2005
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