The new season Zespri kiwifruit from New Zealand started to arrive in mid-June, a couple of weeks later than normal, due to climatic conditions. This caused a short gap between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere supplies.
"Zespri will not allow any fruit to leave its shores if its not up to their high standard," according to John Rahme from Kiwi King South Africa. "The slightly late arrival of kiwifruit from New Zealand was not a problem as the South African market was still well supplied with old kiwifruit out of the Northern Hemisphere. The timing was very good as it allowed the markets to clear stocks, before the fresh New Zealand fruit arrived."
“We at Kiwi King are looking to bring in up to around 80 containers from New Zealand this season, substantially more than last year’s volumes,” said John.
"Demand is looking good and we are still doing a lot of promo work to keep the fruit moving. This being the only way to keep sales going in South Africa as not all consumers are yet fully aware of the value of kiwifruit. The green flesh kiwis are currently most preferred, this is due to the tangy taste. Our promotion emphasis is on the gold (yellow flesh) kiwifruit. Consumers are starting to enjoy the sweet tropical taste of the Sun Gold. Exciting news is that next year we are bringing in red flesh kiwifruit too.”
"As Kiwis are known to be the number one vitamin fruit in nutritional value we continue to promote this fact to the public at large. We believe more and more people are taking to eating healthier and becoming more aware of their own health," said John.
“We at Kiwi King intend to continue giving our customer the best in service and quality," concludes John.
For more information:
John RahmeKiwi King
Tel: +27 11 613 4391
Email: john@rsa.co.za
www.rsa.co.za