hopes for sales surge Cider may have been in the doldrums in recent years, but some in the industry are detecting the first stirrings of growth. Tony Halstead reports It says a great deal about certain sectors of the drinks industry when exultation follows the endorsement of a product by a well-known personality. First, there was pop icon Madonna, who instantly boosted the fortunes of real ale with some timely comments on national television. Last month, Prince William got Britain's cidermakers performing proverbial cartwheels after giving the drink his personal thumbs up during an interview to mark his 21st birthday. The fact that the endorsements gave real ale and cider a massive fillip only serves to reflect the difficulties both categories are facing in persuading the public they are drinks for the 21st century. Cider volumes have been on a virtual plateau since 1996 and the sector has been fighting an image problem way back before then. It is still inextricably linked to the stereotype of a ruddy-faced yokel who finds that knocking back 10 pints of super-strength scrumpy each night is the ideal preparation for a long day's toil in the fields the next day. Although modern-day consumers are simply not like that, it's an image that the cider industry had been forced to endure, and songs performed by the likes of the Worzels (I'm a cider drinker) have not helped the cause. Nevertheless, Britain's army of small cider and perry producers soldiers on. The UK market is dominated by two companies, Bulmer's and Matthew Clark Cider, which produce the two top-selling brands Strongbow and Blackthorn, respectively. The big two have cornered some 90% of the on-trade market. Undaunted, the smaller companies continue to sell their brands to clearly-defined niche markets and believe there are plenty of opportunities left to fight for. NACM (National Association of Cider Makers) puts the total market volume of cider and perry at close on 131 million gallons per year, which equates to more than £1bn. NACM says output has remained fairly static for the past seven years or so. Figures from AC Nielsen, however, cast a completely different light. For the moving annual totals to March 2003 for the on-trade, AC Nielsen consultant Graham Page calculates volumes of draught cider have fallen by 6% to 34.3 million gallons. It is even worse for packaged cider, which has seen a 20% drop to just under 2 million gallons. Nielsen figures reveal that cider's share of the total alcoholic drinks market in the on-trade has been in overall decline for a number of years. Page observes: "Overall, cider's decline is running ahead of beers, particularly lager. Cider clearly got hit hard by the growth in lager, specifically premium initially in packaged form then draught but also by the boom in spirit mixed drinks from the mid 1990s." In spite of this, it is estimated that one in eight UK adults drinks cider every week. Therefore, opportunities do exist for licensees to exploit this trend and significantly boost the value of the on-trade cider sales from their present annual total of £650m. NACM chairman John Thatcher remarks: "I think there is a lot going for the smaller producers." He says there are about seven companies, which he describes as "second division operators", that have the capacity to supply the pubco and free-trade pub market. Other producers further down the line are also proving they can service the sector with sufficient volume output to make a name for themselves. The remainder of the industry is predominantly craft and farm producers, which supply strictly-defined niche markets, but who still make a significant contribution to the rich and varied tapestry of the UK's cider and perry industry. Thatcher remarks: "Volumes might have been fairly static for some years, but there are signs that we may be approaching an upward trend. The comments about cider from Prince William were really manna from heaven for us. "People might not think his views hold that much sway, but I believe they will do a lot to put cider in a new light for a lot of people. It will certainly give cider more of a profile than any number of marketing or advertising exercises are normally able to do." He adds: "Cider needs to be promoted as a drink that is a natural product with close links to agriculture. I do not believe we can necessarily increase the appeal of the product by advertising brands, but by marketing it as a heritage drink. "It has been around for generations and that is cider's great strength." Nick Bradstock, strategic consultant for the NACM, says 2003 already looks like being a good year for the small producers. He explains: "We have already had the bonus of fine warm weather over the first part of the summer, which traditionally encourages cider consumption. Then we have had the bonus of Prince William giving cider a ringing endorsement, which has been a tremendous boost for everyone." Bradstock says there is little doubt that the growth of flavoured alcoholic beverages knocked a big dent in the cider market. But with all the signs pointing to a slowdown in FAB sales, the cidermakers have great hopes that 2003 will witness an important sea change in the industry's fortunes.
