Fruit Based Cider, Driving Growth in the Market!

Fruit ciders are on the up and up acording to industry researched done by the highly read European Supermarket trade magazine. I like these good news stories for the industry. It shows the incredible growth that anything “fruit” is doing these days. Good news for fruit wine and cider lovers as this will only increase availability and choice.

Read on…

“Fruit based cider continues to grow in the United Kingdom’s cider market, according to the global research firm Nielsen.

Growth was driven by fruit, rising 35 per cent to £245.7 million, resulting in an increase of 6 per cent in it market share to 26 per cent.

Dominant brand Strongbow increased its fruit cider sales by £35.1 million to £48.4 million.

Meanwhile, Kopparberg grew its overall sales by 19.6 per cent with fruit brands rising 33 per cent.

The smaller players of apple cider brands reported strong growth – sales of Westons, Thatchers and Frosty Jacks all rose by double digits.

Rekorderlig reported the biggest growth with sales rising 24.7 per cent.

Kopparberg Mixed Fruit is now the most popular fruit cider in the off-trade category – sales jumped 25 per cent to £46.1 million.

The second strongest performer was followed by Strongbow Dark Fruit where sales rose 218% to £42.5 million.

Strongbow Dark Fruit was followed by Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime, Bulmers Crushed Red Berries & Lime, Rekorderlig Strawberry & Lime, Bulmers Bold Black Cherry, Jacques Fruits de Bois, Rekorderlig Wild Berries, Stella Artois Cidre Raspberry and Strongbow Citrus Edge.

Somerset-based Sheppy’s, producers of premium cider for nearly 200 years, has fifteen ciders varying in taste from sweet to dry, including raspberry cider.

David Sheppy, MD of Sheppy’s, told ESM: “We like to be innovative and we are always thinking about new products at Sheppy’s to meet consumer demand in this increasingly popular category.”

Sheppy’s medium-sweet sparking Falstaff offering is a pale dessert fruit cider while the newly launched Sheppy’s Mulled Cider warming drink was produced using traditional mulling spices, including cinnamon and cloves, he said.

The company recently won a coveted place in the Great Taste Top 50 with its Oak Matured Vintage.”