Climate change hits fresh pineapple supplies
The company was feeling the impact of climate change on its supply base, said fruit factory manager Gary Kilhams, who is based at its Selsey facility, near Chichester, West Sussex. "There's a very difficult period forecast this year for pineapple, which would be a big line for us. There has been an unusually high level of rainfall in South America, where we source it from.
"There is likely to be a constraint on supply and it's up to us to make sure we have the systems in place to maintain it."
The implications in such situations were extremely complex and often the consumer didn't appreciate everything all the decisions involved, he said. "Do you change to canned supply? You would have to change the packaging and labelling."
Aside from its use in direct-to-retail packaged fruit, pineapple is also distributed to manufacturers for use as a component in a wide variety of chilled ethnic ready meals.
The volatility of supply and unpredictability of weather conditions meant supply chains had to become more flexible than ever, said Kilhams. "You have to be able to move quickly when these things happen to guarantee prices and secure alternative sources of supply. The people who don't will suffer. We change our mango supply 13 times a year, for example."
It helped that Nature's Way was supported by a strong supply chain partner in the form of Dole, he said.
"They are close to the supply chain and the growers, so we understand what they need and they understand what we can achieve."
