Calypso Soft Drinks adds apple to Fairtrade range

Monday, 19 January 2009

Calypso Soft Drinks has added a new Apple juice variety to its Fairtrade juice range, despite the global shortage of Fairtrade apples from South Africa which is affecting the whole drinks industry.

As Fairtrade Fortnight appears on the horizon, Calypso is one of only a handful of juice manufacturers able to offer an apple juice variant, which now sits alongside its Fairtrade Orange 200ml and Fairtrade Tropical 200ml cartons as well as its Fairtrade Orange Juice 250ml bottle.

Richard Cooke, Sales & Marketing Director said "the industry is suffering a major shortage of Fairtrade apples - which are only grown in South Africa.

"However, we fortunately saw the forecasts and were able to buy at a premium price to ensure supply for our customers. The result is that we have managed to bypass the problem and can now offer our new Fairtrade Apple carton as planned."

The popularity of Fairtrade products continues unabated despite the economic downturn.

The handy sized fruit juice carton, is ideal for school lunches and each counts as a daily portion of fruit under the government's ‘5-a-day' initiative.

Calypso has been steadily growing its share of the ambient Fairtrade approved juice category for several years, realising the growing awareness of social and environmental implications.

Year on year, Calypso's Fairtrade products have increased by 40% in the latest sales quarter.

Cooke comments, "Fairtrade is of particular importance among young families and as our core market is school age children, we want to support and help promote the key issues of sustainability and paying a fair price to producers in developing countries."

Source: Calypso Soft Drinks