According to Carlos Cruzat, president of Frutas de Chile's Kiwi Committee, Chile's kiwi season began with a two-week delay, in a context of low supply and high demand for fruit, reaching between 65% and 69% progress. Carlos Cruzat, president of Frutas de Chile's Kiwi Committee, offered this description of the current scenario.
Sebastián García, Category Manager at Copefrut, said that 96,416 tons of kiwi were exported up to week 27, i.e. 1.5% more than the 94,985 tons of the previous year, according to the Kiwi Report (No.16, of July 10). This accounts for 69.3% of the 139,000 tons projected for the season. According to Garcia, even though the country is expected to export 10.1% more than the 126,220 tons shipped last year, the total could vary depending on the results of the late shipments.
"This year there is a little more category 2 fruit in general. The dry matter is tighter because spring was colder than expected. It's something that has affected most fruits," Cruzat added.
Shipments have mainly been sent to the United States and the Netherlands. Shipments to the Netherlands have increased by 30% over the previous year. Latin America has also shown activity, except Argentina, affected by government changes and a fall in purchasing power.
Regarding the fruit's quality, weather events have resulted in less sprouting and, therefore, more category 2 fruit. Production was delayed by the cold season. However, it allowed us to obtain larger calibre fruits. The size of the fruit increased but the quality decreased compared to previous seasons, García stated.
According to Cruzat, even though competition with New Zealand's kiwi, which has experienced a 30 to 40% increase in volume, presents challenges for Chilean exporters, they expect this will be a favourable season for producers, maintaining the positive trend of the last five years.
Source: mundoagro.cl