Europe: The kiwi situation in 2014/15

The European kiwi production during 2014/15 was of around 646,000 tons, 6% more than the previous campaign and in line with the previous years.

There are actually different sources that report a production of over 150,000 tons. Regardless, it is clear how investments in Greece will lead to an increased production potential in the future.

Sales markets
At the beginning of the campaign, the Italian produce was, as usual, sent overseas, but competition with Greece was strong from the start. The situation was worsened by the Russian ban as, before the embargo, the country was the main destination for the Greek product - 30% of the production was sent there.

These volumes were partly sent elsewhere, often to the same Italian reference markets but with prices 25-30 cents lower.

In addition, there was a lot of produce with bigger grades, so it was difficult to place it, as people tend to prefer the smaller ones because they are cheaper.

Strategies and stocks
The objective of Italian operators especially during the first half of the campaign was to support prices even if it led to lower sales, because they knew that, once the Greek produce was finished, the market would have adapted to the quality and volumes available.

Stocks in Italy are in the norm - the CSO (Centro Servizi Ortofrutticoli di Ferrara) reported that 50% of the produce available at the beginning of the campaign had been sold by mid-February 2015, in line with previous seasons (except for 2013).

Export prices have been rather good so far, and they are similar to the previous year.

Greece has low stocks, 30% of the total. Chile's production is estimated at 170,000 tons, higher than 2013 but lower than the potential of the country of 200,000 tons.

Here is the trend of ex-works prices for grade 30 produce.


Click here to enlarge.

Consumption in Italy
In 2014, retail purchases were of 118,000 tons, -1% with respect to the previous year. However, purchases did increase by 5% in the last three months of the campaign. The consumption drop in fact refers to the spring-summer period.