EVENTS

Juice Su111111it 2015

1 Consumption I CSR I Europe I Growth I Juice Market I USA 1

Around 500 participants attended the Juice Summit 2015 held in Antwerp, Belgium - a summit

meeting of the international fruit-juice industry in the real sense of the word. Taking the motto

"From the industry for the industry", the organisers AIJN, IFU and SGF, sent out invitations for the

third time in series. Focus was on dynamic developments in the global fruit-juice market, the inter­

national sourcing market and last, but not lec!st, the topic of corporate social responsibility (CSR),

i.e. the responsibility of companies to ensure sustainable enterprise. The two-day event held on

October 7 - 8, 2015, provided representatives from the international fruit-juice industry with a

varied conference programme and top keynote speakers from throughout the world.•'

In their welcoming speeches the presidents of the three association organisers agreed in their em­

Marjan Skotnicki-Hoagland, phasis on the necessity for the Formation of this platform for the international industry. Marjan President AI/N © all photos: Erik Luntang Skotnicki-Hoogland, President of the AIJ N, underlined the importance of collective action given the

Dirk Lansbergen, Presiden IFU

Happy faces: Jose Henrique Cutrale jun and Marjan Skotnicki-Hoogland

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background of negative headlines for fruit-juice and Dr. Joachim Tretzel, President of the SGF, em­

phasised the necessity of cooperative activities.

The technical session included a series of presentations. Fran(ois LU RO, Scientist at the National

Institute of Agronomical Research, AGAP I NRA Corse, France, spoke on the topic of "Classification

of Citrus Fruits". Zdenek CER NY, General Manager Juice and Still Beverages CEWA, GESA, Germany,

discussed the question of how processing differs for vegetable & fruit juice. Gert VAN MANEN,

President, iTi Tropicals, USA focused on coconut water processing and the related benefits for con­

sumers, such as it being naturally low in calories and sugar, and fat free. The benefits this provides

for beverage developers are a gentle flavour, a translucent colour and its good availability as con­

centrate and N FC. Erlon PEREI RA, Head of Business Unit Flavours, Döhler Group, France, described

new developments in flavour systems. According to Pereira, the juice category is moving towards

products with more added-value and focussing on vegetables, 'fresh goodness' and full fruitiness

with eye-catching colours. Purity, naturalness, authenticity and refreshment are key aspects that

must be supported by flavour systems. lndividualization, customization and emerging taste direc­

tions open up many opportunities for innovations in "traditional" flavour tonalities (e.g.: orange,

apple). Orange/citrus remain the number:�rne taste tonality for juice based beverages where

"affordable sustainability" is a a key driver for innovation in new generation flavour systems. David

HAMMOND, Fruit Juice Authenticity Expert, Eurofins, UK, described new spectroscopic techniques

for fast and reliable evaluation of fruit juices. Harnmond pointed out that "We all need to take care

to root out the 'bad guys' as they only damage the whole juice industry." In their presentation,

Susanne KOSWIG, Technical Manager IRMA, SGF, Germany, and Thomas GAUTHIER, General Secre­

tary UN IJ US, QUALi JUS, France, described international monitoring of raw materials and the Euro­

pean Quality Contra! System (EQCS). Ana VALERA, Packaging Technologies Department, AINIA,

Spain, rounded off the impressive series of presentations with her information about "New Devel-

j starts deveJopt g

Gert VAN MANEN, iTi Tropicals, US

November/December 2015 ��

EVENTS

opments in Packaging & Bottle Disposal from an Environmental Perspective." She focussed on the question of the importance of packaging for product development. lt increases shelf life, plays a key role with regard to food safety, provides consumers with important information and is, "the last bastion in marketing." On the topic of environmental trends in packaging, Valera highlighted new, sustainable, functionalized and competitive PHB materials based on fruit by-products providing advanced packaging solutions and non-packaging applications. One very interesting aspect is use of wastewater from fruit juice industries as a cheap feedstock for production of biopolymers.

The dynamic developments in the global fruit-juice industry formed the topics for Session 1. Thorsten HARTMANN, Director of Consulting Europe, Middle East, Africa, Canadean, highlighted "Juice and Nectars Putting Europe in Perspective". In Germany the juice category suffered from changing consumption patterns due to consumer trends like 'on the go' consllmption and busy lifestyles that limit breakfast to coffee and grabbing something to eat for the road. The trend to­wards high quality products continued, yet due to its small volume base, did not counteract the volume loss overall. The trend towards premium products is seen in added-value segments like organic, fair trade and juices with reduced fruit acid. In Franceithe juice markets continued to de­cline by more than 3 % in 2014, driven by a continued drop in consumption of ambient and concen­trate juice. Consumers prefer to buy lower quantities of juice, but juice of high quality i.e. NFC juice. Naturalness, pureness, freshness are top of the consumer's agenda when it comes to juice and NFC juice meets these requirements best. Turkey and Po land continue to be the top performing Eastern European markets. In Turkey, growth in juice was due to the good performance of Coca-Cola's Cap­py and PepsiCo's Tropicana brands. Both companies support�d their product ranges with market­ing activities and new product developments.

Even though overall declines are forecast in the US, the premium juice segment is expected to con­tinue to evolve and Fragment, with low sugar options continuing to drive growth in the nectar cate­gory. This strong performance by nectars is attributed to new products with reduced sugar levels and lower juice content.

Filippou MATRONA, Stills General Manager, Coca-Cola Central, East and West Africa, summarises the situation in Africa with the words: 'Who dares, wins' or less literally, nothing ventured, nothing gained. In her opinion, consumption of fruit juice will double by 2020. South Africa is currently the largest juice market, but will soon be overtaken by emerging African markets, such as Egypt, for example, where juice consumption is growing fast. Coca-Cola intends to source 80 % of fruit used in the production of its juices FOR AFRICA- FROM AFRICA by 2020.

Alexandre CARVALHO, Marketing Services Director, Tetra Pak, explained key trends for the fruit­juice industry in Latin America and posed the question of what Europe and Latin American could learn from each other. The motor driving growth for 100 % juice is Brazil with 2.5 billion litres of freshly squeezed juice each year. The nectar market is led at a clear distance by Chile and Venezuela.

Session 2 outlined the juice supply chain and Prof. Dr. Marcos Fava NEVES, University of Säo Paulo, Brazil, first speaker of the day, posed the question of what the future will bring for the retail food

Gala Dinner at Zuiderkroon: The atmosphere was excellent and everyone seemed to have a great time.

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Er/an PEREIRA, Döhler Group, France

Alexandre CARVALHO, Tetra Pak, ltaly

David HAMMOND, Eurofins, UK

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HugoBYRNES Royal AHOLD, NL

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EVENTS

Paneldiscussion with the industry leaders Jose Luis CUTRALE and Thomas HINDERER

Paneldiscussion an the juice supply chain with M. NEVES, T. HURSON, D. NURY and D. G/AMPETRO

trade. He emphasised that 2014 had been the warst year for all food commodities since 2010.

Neves forecast that prices will remain unchanged until 2024 and that the role of cost efficiency will

become even more important. According to his statements, the countries to come out winners will

be those which can manage their resources most successfully. In Brazil, a collective method for

forecasting harvest yields has been developed. All those involved in the project have access to the

data collected, which includes, for example, maps of the citrus plantations and the number of trees.

Further information about harvest forecasts and surveying of citrus trees can be found at

www.fundecitrus.com.br.

Tom H U RSON, Senior Vice President, lngredient & Foodservice Sales, Tree Top lnc., US, gave an

Apples & Apple Juice Outlook. 2014-15 was an interesting apple juice year where Poland produced

a record apple crop just as Russia enacted an EU embargo and China AJC processors underestimat­

ed Europe's ability to expand in the US. As largest supplier, Po land currently dominates the Europe­

an AJC trade. The US is the largest AJC import market and very important for growth of the Polish

AJC. China dominates other global import markets and Chile is currently the number three AJC

exporter.

The second congress day was focussed on the topic of CSR which was presented from a trade point

of view by Hugo BYRNES, Vice President Product lntegrity, Royal AHOLD, NL. His credo: "We want

commitment on our products, otherwise we suspend the supplier". Byrnes reported on his

company's CSR measures applying to coffee, tea, cocoa, soya and palm oil.

An increasing number of consumers are tur_ning to products with low sugar and salt content, healthy

fats and higher levels of fibre. Clean labelling is the catchword. In this digital age, manufacturers

are challenged to gain consumer trust through open communication and transparency and to suc­

ceed in balancing health aspects, sustainability and pleasure over convenience at an acceptable

price. lf price is the only means available to manufacturers however, it will be difficult to satisfy all

consumer expectations, stated Fran(ois SONNEVILLE, Director Beverages, Rabobank lnt. Food &

Agribusiness Research and Advisory, U K.

Rick KRESS, President of Southern Gardens Citrus, posed a thought-provoking question on the

topic of citrus greening disease: What if biotechnology is the only Answer? Given an increasing

demand for orange and apple juice, of example, and the undeniable effects of citrus greening, he

declared that the agri-business and the food industry have done a very poor job of educating con­

sumers on where food comes from and how.

The auditorium was impressed by the very varied programme of presentations on highly topical

questions and is already looking Forward to meeting up again in October 2016. More detailed infor­

mation will follow in the next issues of FRU IT PROCESSI NG.

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November/December 2015 Li�