Rules introduced by the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry in 2013 requiring beverage producers to add a minimum of 10% fruit pulp to juice blends has seen a rise in domestic demand for apple juice bringing a major boost to Brazil’s fruit production industry. Apple juice has the benefit of a neutral, sweet flavour and provides soft drink manufacturers the opportunity to introduce the juice to reduce the sugar content.

For example, a grape soft drink must have a 10% grape juice content but a generic soft drink needs only to have 5%. Nectars have specific percentages ranging from 25% in the pitanga flavour, a Brazilian fruit, to a juice such as peach where the content needs to be up to 40%. Whole juices are unchanged with 100% of the composition being the labelled fruit.

Fisher, one of Brazil’s leading apple producers report that ‘industries of all sizes are fuelling the growing demand by using apple juice to cut costs in the production of blended beverages’. Arival Pioli, company director, says that “Apple juice is being used in almost all juices, including those with sweeteners. And demand has come from companies of all sizes.” The company expects demand to increase by nearly 50% in the coming year and they are looking to increase sales volumes domestically by 45%, taking the share of apple juice in to 30% in 2017 from 5% today in revenue terms.

Source: Valor International, Brazil