January WAR 08

January 2008, World Apple Report Highlights

Time to Restore Balance on Biotechnology
For many years, biotechnology in agriculture has been fighting a rearguard action to protect itself from impediments or outright bans that have been proposed by activist opponents. These have exploited fear to influence the attitudes of consumers, retailers, politicians and governments. However, nothing resembling the doomsday scenarios of the opponents has emerged. Slowly, many farmers are beginning to contemplate the benefits that could accrue to their products and their customers from utilizing the potential of biotechnology while retaining the established cautions and safeguards. The time is ripe for governments, politicians, research administrators, scientists and industry leaders to ignore the fear-mongers and support biotechnology in agriculture. It is also time for major retailers, with their enormous influence, to begin to separate the strident claims of opponents from the mountain of scientific evidence on the benefits to society of biotechnology.

Biggest Stories of 2007
This article reviews the stories from 2007 that are most likely to influence decisions in the world apple industry for years to come. Rated number one in potential impact is the re-distribution of economic power that is taking place in the world. Number two is the startling increase in the access consumers now have to information on firms, products and processes. Number three is climate change. While the nations of the world are groping their way towards multinational efforts to deal with climate change, many towns, cities, provinces and individual countries are launching their own initiatives. Some of the other key issues include food safety, provenance of products, labor and immigration and the growing influence on the apple industry of China, India and Russia.

Produce Promotions over Thanksgiving Holiday
This is the second article in a series that analyzes a new weekly USDA report on produce promotions and pricing at retail. Experience during and after the Thanksgiving holiday, celebrated on Thursday, November 22, 2007, is compared with produce promotions and pricing in the prior six weeks. While there was a large spike in both fruit and vegetable promotions during the Thanksgiving holiday, most of this spike was due to seasonal items and did not benefit mainstream fruits like apples, pears and grapes. However, promotional prices did tend to be higher than normal during the holiday period.

Special Statistics

Number of Stores with Ads for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, by Week, 2007 (table).
Number of Stores with Ads for Key Fruits and Vegetables, by Week, 2007 (table).
Weighted Average Advertised Prices for Key Fruits and Vegetables,
by Week, 2007 (table).
United States: Surge in Orange Juice Imports, 2007 (chart).
China: Recent Trends in Apple Plantings and Production, by Province, 1996-2006 (table).

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