The harvest of Oscar Gold and Oscar Red kiwis is over, but green kiwis are still being picked from the trees. "With new plantings, we are seeing an earlier start to the sales of French kiwis, and the growth of international orchards means that we can now significantly extend the marketing period for Oscar kiwis in France," explains Jean-Baptiste Pinel, managing director of Primland.
Photo credit: Primland
For the 2024/2025 season, 10,000 tons of green kiwis will be harvested, 1,000 tons of Gold kiwis and 50 tons of Red kiwis. These volumes are set to increase over the years. "We have a major planting program under way in France. Many trees have not yet reached maturity and new plantings are planned. We are seeing an increase in tonnage for Gold and Red kiwis, and stable yields for green kiwis." The volume of green kiwis has remained stable this year thanks to young orchards coming into production, offsetting a slight drop in tonnage on a like-for-like basis. This decline is linked to a problem of root asphyxia affecting the whole of Europe. "This proves to us that we did the right thing in renovating the aging orchards, which has encouraged us to relaunch a replanting phase."
Jean-Baptiste Pinel
Growth in production goes hand in hand with growth in consumption. "By segmenting our offer, we have the capacity to satisfy even more consumers. As a result, we have the impression that the consumption of Oscar kiwis is increasing, with more and more varied demand for this ever-expanding range."
In terms of quality, while pollination conditions were good for Gold and Red kiwis, they were less favourable for green kiwis, resulting in heterogeneous sizes at harvest.
To boost the consumption of Oscar kiwis, Primland is once again rolling out communication campaigns this year. "We continue to be present on our social networks and have scheduled two competitions in partnership with distributors, one before Christmas and another afterwards. At the same time, we are supporting consumers by continuing to communicate on our packaging, on how to store Oscar kiwis and when to eat them."
Photo credit: Primland
This year, Pimland has also made a commitment to the fight against breast cancer by supporting a number of associations. "We wanted to go beyond taste by getting involved. To underline the importance of screening and to support the associations that help people affected by breast cancer, we put in place several actions throughout the month of October. On our Oscar® trays, we added a "Special Pink October" sticker created for the occasion. We are also supporting the "Entre Ciel et Mer" association, which organizes three-day sailing trips for women undergoing post-treatment. We published a post on the Oscar® Instagram account to show our support for their work, with a donation of €1,000 [1,072 USD] once 500 interactions have been reached. Finally, we are also supporting the association "Les battements d'Elles", which helps women undergoing treatment and those in remission from all types of cancer to rebuild their lives, find a balanced lifestyle and boost their self-esteem through creative and cultural activities, as well as adapted physical exercise and well-being initiatives. Finally, we have organized visits to Oscar® orchards with women who have undergone treatment, to show them our farming practices."
For more information:
Olivier Pouilhes
Primland
Phone: +33 (0)5 58 90 09 95
[email protected]
www.primland.fr