Spain: Lower kiwi yields and larger calibres

The Spanish Hayward kiwi harvest is expected to kick off on 6-7 November in Galicia and Asturias, the country's main producing regions. Prospects point to a better campaign than the previous one, with lower yields per hectare, but with larger calibres, which will make the marketing easier.

"The cold temperatures during the flowering period caused a massive loss of flowers, which is why there will be fewer tonnes per hectare and larger sizes," explains Carlos Vila, manager of Kiwi Atlántico. "In our case, we will have more or less the same production, as we have new young plantations that are now becoming productive," he adds.

The 2015/2016 season was disastrous. The lack of good calibres pushed prices downward, to levels 50% below those of the previous campaign. According to Carlos Vila, the prospects are much more encouraging this year.

"We expect a campaign in line with those of 2 and 3 years ago, with better prices, more stable for the large calibres and more variables for the small sizes. In addition to better calibres, we expect a very good quality, as long as no heavy rainfall is recorded and temperatures stay low during the month of November."

The Spanish kiwifruit production amounts to around 15,000 tonnes, which is perhaps not a very significant volume, if we take into account that Spanish consumers demand around 90,000 tonnes. Nevertheless, Carlos Vila points out that "since the economic crisis became more severe, we have observed that consumers tend to prefer domestic products when there is availability. Since 2008/2009, exports have gone down and we devote almost the entire production to the domestic market," he affirms.