Foods From Spain

Picota Cherries Persimon Plums Berries Cherimoya

In-store Promotions National Primary Schools Competition Young Spanish Chef of the Year

Picota cherry season begins Spain’s in store promotion

Picota cherries are the only cherry sold in the UK without a stalk, which together with their short season makes them one of the summer’s most anticipated fruits.

This year, Foods from Spain is promoting Picota cherries using a combination of in-store, trade and consumer advertising and PR, as well as 1.6m purchase-related promotions where consumers can send off for a free bottle of Spanish Cava or Rioja.

Picota cherries will appear on trolley advertisements in the major multiples, and magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Asda magazine, Delicious, Olive, Fresh and OK!.

The promotion will run throughout the Picota season, which producers in the Jerte Valley, where the cherries are grown, predict will last until July 20^th this year.

The crop is expected to be of good quality, with a slightly greater proportion of larger fruit in the 22mm-23mm range than last year. Stemmed cherries grown in the same region have been affected by hail and rain storms during May. However, Picota cherries were still green at this time, although volumes have been cut from the 8,000 tonnes predicted initially, to around 5,000t, slightly up on last season.

This is the third year of Foods from Spain’s integrated promotional campaign, launched in 2005 to integrate support across a number of Spanish products, which include Superior Seedless grapes, plums, persimon, cherimoya, raspberries and strawberries and Canary Islands tomatoes.

Foods from Spain also funds a generic promotional campaign to support Spanish fresh produce. This year, it launched the National Primary Schools Competition, encouraging all British primary schools to design collages on the theme of healthy eating and Spanish fruit and vegetables. The three winning schools were announced last week. Foods from Spain plans to display the best of the hundreds of entries it received during the summer.

The organisation is also upgrading its website, www.foodsfromspain.co.uk, with a new look and new products.

Fernando Cano, promotions director the Cereza de Jerte Denomination of Origin Regulatory Council, said: “Picota cherries avoided the effects of the worst of the storms during May. Although the volume of this year’s crop is only slightly up on last year, at 5,000 tonnes, we should have good-sized Picota cherries for Britain. The UK is one of the most important markets for producers in the Jerte Valley, which is why we continue to support promotional activity in cooperation with Foods from Spain.”

María José Sevilla, director of Foods from Spain, said: “The stalkless Picota cherry provides us with the perfect excitement for the launch of Foods from Spain’s integrated promotional campaign in stores. This cherry has a unique position in the fresh produce department, and shoppers always look forward to its arrival on the shelves.”

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