Mitigating citrus sector turbulence: Döhler’s citrus solutions offer cost stability and steady supply

21 Mar 2024 --- In response to uncertainties in the citrus sector, Döhler offers innovative citrus taste solutions, assisting customers and driving market resilience at a time when fresh fruit shortages are high and environmental factors and greening are sparking uncertainties about future availability.

Food Ingredients First speaks with Marc Pessers, global citrus team lead at Döhler, who explains that demand for citrus flavors and juices is currently outrunning supply. 

“It’s a very exciting time to fulfill the customer and client expectations, with the available raw materials that are there and working out how to maximize and balance the ingredients we do have. It’s about finding the right solutions for our clients and ultimately the consumers.”

According to Pessers, after the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent inflation, there was an expectation of cost stability and cost reduction. But when you look at raw materials, it’s moving in the opposite direction, he tells us. “We’ve had to start looking more precisely at what consumers are expecting and this means using the available juice in the most effective way.”

So, for Döhler, it’s “a rebalancing of the whole market.” The company wants to offer good-tasting products that are healthy products and at the right price for consumers.

Generating awareness 
The company recently launched its Citrus Campaign, which, according to Pessers, is all about creating awareness in the market. 

“There are multiple elements. But I focus more on the citrus ingredients, meaning the oils and water phases. We have always used these oils as a starting point for flavors because it’s just one ingredient and it was readily available. It’s also healthy and has little impact on the planet.”

With a supply of raw materials wavering, questions are often raised, such as: “Do we need to have it in this application, or should we find an alternative?”

Marc Pessers, global citrus team lead at Döhler.“This market situation came as no surprise to us. We have been developing alternative natural flavor solutions that can replace the oil in many applications for some time.”

“So, for us, the Citrus Campaign is more about giving our clients a choice, depending on where and how much they would like to use specific citrus ingredients.” 

Pessers claims: “There are not that many companies nowadays that run from fruit processing, right up to total solutions, being it a flavor, or compound and even emulsion. If you look at our company, we remain committed to this, and this is absolutely a point of differentiation.”

Flavor preferences 
In an industry where trends flucuate, one area of flavors continues to withstand and remain relevant across F&B applications. 

“Citrus flavors are here to stay,” remarks Pessers. “Citrus flavors are refreshing and they make people happy. We do see differences across countries. For instance, in Japan, preference is more lemon than orange, whereas in other countries, it’s orange over lemon,” he notes. 

Consumer interest in these flavors will always remain relevant, the only thing that is changing is how the company is going to make them available. “They’re still going to be natural, they’re still going to be great tasting. The only thing the F&B industry needs to adjust is their way of producing them.”

Döhler has access to all the ingredients directly from the source. The company has built up expertise to better understand the composition of the oils and to look at which components are driving consumer preference.

“The sheer amount of knowledge we have about citrus is because we’re running it from the fruit right up to the beverage or applications. This combination means that we can always find the right solutions for our customers that offer great tastes and winning citrus flavors.” The citrus industry is facing a crisis as it struggles to meet the high global demand and faces unprecedented challenges within its supply chain.

Globally sourced citrus 
Döhler sources a large proportion of its citrus fruits from Brazil, although the company is a global business, composed of plants also in Mexico, Egypt, Spain, Germany and Turkey.

“Brazil is, of course, an important market, but nowadays, you need to be able to have the benefit of both the northern and southern hemispheres,” Pessers explains. 

“You also need the security of supply chains, meaning you utilize different geographical areas, this is simply because weather events are unpredictable,” he adds. 

“We source globally in many different regions and I believe that is one of our strengths. “With this, we can manage the quality, price and availability.”

Having wide opportunities within one company allows Döhler to manage situations more easily than many others “simply because we’ve got everything under one roof,” Pessers remarks. 

“If you look at our Brazilian set up, we are a big partner and supplier to the flavor and fragrance industry, but on the other hand, we have our own flavor creation set up around the globe. We have labs and flavors in China, the US, and Germany.”

Emerging fruits & future investments 
Looking ahead at future trends, Pessers tells us there is “an increase in volume in fruits like kumquat and yuzu.”

Yuzu has already been available for a while, but, according to him, “it was never in the commercial quantities that made it worthwhile.” 

Döhler’s understanding of citrus allows the company to work with each variety and ingredient.Now, things could be changing. “We now see more of these volumes coming up and that’s what is needed to make a real breakthrough in the market,” he outlines. 

And it’s also similar to kumquat. “As a fruit, it is very much liked in Asia, for example. But to translate it into a product it’s sometimes more difficult because it’s a very outspoken taste and experience, as traditionally you would eat the whole fruit. “It’s more challenging to translate the flavor into beverages, on the food side, it can be easier.”

Meanwhile, the company is further investing in citrus. Pessers believes the market “will be changing in the sense that some products will remain 100% juice or 100% from the main fruit, and some markets will change to more natural flavor solutions that give a good citrus taste but aren’t necessarily from the fruit.”

“For us as a company, the future is bright. We will continue to invest in the whole chain, making more capacity to process juice, citrus ingredients and flavors. So, for us, the turbulence that we see in the market is not a reason to back away. It’s actually a reason to say we need to further invest because this is where the solutions that we provide can make a real difference,” he concludes. 

By Elizabeth Green