"Every year we export more kaki to Asia, the Middle East and Canada"

After the Russian veto was established, the Spanish kaki sector immediately set to work in the search for new distant markets that could, over time, compensate for the loss of a country that had a great appetite for this fruit, as it absorbed about 30% of the Spanish kaki. Thanks to the entrepreneurship of companies in this sector a future, full of opportunities, beyond merely compensating for the Russian absence, has opened up. 

"During the last campaign we made the first shipments to the Indonesian market. We recently attended Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong, where we took advantage of the opportunity to visit Southeast Asian customers with very good prospects ", says Daniel Vidal, manager of Valencian company Exquisite Fruits," Although the EU and the Eastern countries are our biggest markets, we seek to diversify export destinations. For this campaign we expect third party countries, or distant countries to already represent about 18% of our exports, in addition to Asia, the Middle East and Canada "

Kaki is a product that is liked a lot in Asia according to Daniel Vidal, in addition to being native to China and South Korea. "The Asian market is very loyal, but very demanding. They always look for extra quality fruit with a very elaborate presentation. And this is precisely what we must do, the Spanish kaki exporters have to bet on giving more added value to the kaki, with innovation in packaging and formats. 

Although production around the star variety, Rojo Brillante, continues to grow in Spain the sector is getting the campaign to last longer, along with the difficulties this entails with a single variety.

"Last year we were selling kaki from September until the first week of March. Keep in mind that a few years ago we could only sell until January. Our goal is to have this product available until mid-April because we believe that there are rounds in the market to market it. Beyond these dates, I do not think it makes sense to have kaki, since it usually starts to get hot and the chains of distribution already demand the first stone fruit. Kaki is a fruit whose consumption is associated with the cold, "explains the exporter. 

Although ecological kaki is still not abundant in the market because of its difficulty of production, Daniel Vidal affirms that there is an increasing interest. "We started to have organic kaki last season. Although our volumes are still not significant, if we observe that their demand is stirring up in Europe, mainly in the distribution chains of Scandinavia and Switzerland, although Spain is beginning to demand for it as well. A few years ago it was unthinkable that in the Spanish supermarket chains there was a corner dedicated to organic products and now, however, this is already a reality, and it continues to increase.

"Kaki is a product that still has a long way to go in the market. I think that one way to make kaki profitable, when its conventional demand ceases to increase as much, is to develop it in the ecological segment, whose added value compensates the product's margins, "he says.

Exquisite Fruits focus most of its business on two products, kaki and stone fruit, however according to Daniel Vidal, "Kaki is becoming more and more important to us. Soon we will meet in the Fruit Attraction Madrid fair, from the 18 to 20 October, where we will have, as in previous years, a booth dedicated exclusively to kaki. These are dates when the stone fruit has ended and in which there are very good opportunities for the kaki at the beginning of the season. "

The stand will have a corner dedicated to its brand 'Style by Fruits' and also a space for its ecological kakis. You can visit Exquisite Fruits in hall 7, stand C08A.