The hailstorms that hit Valencia last week will have some impact on the quality of the kakis for the coming campaign, which will start in September. For now, just two months before the harvest, the fruit still only reaches the size of a hen's egg.
"The fruit affected that has not been completely ruined has been marked," says the manager of a kaki and citrus trader. "However, at many points the hailstorm has fortunately been accompanied by water, so the trees have not been damaged."
It appears the storms did not reach the most important kaki production areas; as a result, no significant production losses are expected, although there will be more discarded fruit and an increase in second class volumes.
Nevertheless, these losses will not be the factor pushing prices up next season, as we must take into consideration that new plantations become productive each year due to the boom in the popularity of kakis, so that should keep production volumes at similar levels to last season's. It is then more a case of demand growing faster than supply.
"When the 2013/2014 campaign was already finished and we had some produce available, we still had demand from foreign retail chains," says Daniel Vidal, of the company Exquisite Fruits. "For this reason, several European supermarket chains, especially the demanding German ones, want to ensure a certain volume for the coming season in anticipation of the price increases. Prospects are very good, especially for first class fruit, which should reach interesting prices."
Meanwhile, the province of Valencia, like other Spanish production areas, is still on alert for hailstorms in the forthcoming weeks.