While official figures have yet to be published about the Persimon® kaki harvest capacity in the 2017/2018 campaign, the first estimates show that, continuing the trend of recent years, production volumes will be slightly higher than in the previous season and may amount to around 275,000 tonnes. At the same time, it all points to a greater abundance of large calibres.
"It is still too early to have exact figures, as many things can still happen, but we know we will harvest larger volumes than last season, as has been customary in recent campaigns," stated Rafael Perucho, manager Of the Regulatory Council of the PDO Kaki Ribera del Xúquer.
The main reason for this increase in volume is the entry into production of new plantations, since heat waves have caused a lot of fruit to fall from the trees and yields are not high.
Although consistent volumes won't begin to enter the market until early October, there are still companies venturing to ship kakis by the end of August; a month in which, according to the PDO manager, the fruit is not yet ready to be marketed.
"There are always traders who seek higher returns by shipping the fruit very prematurely, when it is not yet available, although this hurts the sector, because it leads to rejection from the consumers. Kakis are not usually suitable to be marketed until late September or early October," he points out.
The predominant variety is still the Rojo Brillante, although the sector continues to work on obtaining new plant materials and there are already plantations of new varieties; however, their commercial volumes are still very small.
The strategy of the Regulatory Board will continue to be to focus heavily on European markets and promote the fruit in markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain, as well as in more distant markets, like Canada, Brazil or the United States.