The CSO expectations for the kiwi campaign were presented on 8th October 2014 in Verona.
Elisa Macchi, CSO director, announced that this year's campaign will be very similar to last year's one, although there will be differences at a regional level.
"Italy will be divided into two - production in the North will be good except for a few problems in the Verona area whereas it will drop in Lazio, Campania and Calabria due to some weather problems. Italy should produce 437,000 ton in total, 2% more than 2013."
As regards the production areas of the specific regions, Lazio remains more or less unvaried (-1%, with 7,279 hectares), whereas there is a substantial drop in Veneto (-7% with 3,567 hectares), Emilia Romagna (-5% with 3,759 hectares) and Piedmont (-4% with 4,823 hectares).
Yields have though improved in many areas: +16% in Piedmont, +3% in the Verona area, +15/20% in the Treviso area, +16% in Emilia Romagna, +20% in Friuli, +10 to +15% in Calabria. Only Lazio and Campania have a negative sign.
Italy will once again one of the main producers of the northern hemisphere.
Italy: 2014 expectations (Click here to enlarge)
As regards exports, particular attention must be paid to Greece, which is expected to produce 32% more than 2013. "We must not think that Greece only exports to Eastern Europe, because Greek kiwis also reach Germany and other countries in Northern Europe. In addition, the country will look for other outlets due to the Russian ban."
Overall, the northern hemisphere should produce 665,600 tons of kiwis, +6% with respect to 2013: Italy (+3%), France (+7%), Portugal (-25%), Spain(+12%), Greece(+32%), California (-10%) and South Korea (-15%).
Prices should anyway be rather good for producers and there should not be particular marketing problems. "Despite this though, we must still push exports, focus on even more countries and reach increasingly higher quality standards."
Italy: exports to North America (tons) (Click here to enlarge)
Kiwi exports are increasing to North America (+5% USA and +4% Canada - see chart above), Brazil (+19%) and Far East (+50% - see chart below).
Italiy: exports to the Far East (tons) (Click here to enlarge)
"Even though China is the largest producer worldwide, there is a share of Chinese consumers that is interested in the superior quality of European production." The interest for exports is also due to the fact that consumption in Italy is not very high.
Click here to enlarge.
According to CSO data, kiwis represent only 3.2% of Italian fruit consumption (chart above).
Left to right: Claudio Valente, Elisa Macchi, Lorenzo Tosi and Fausto Bertaiola.
Claudio Valente, part of the Giunta per l'Agricoltura della Camera di Commercio di Verona and Fausto Bertaiola, chairman of the Kiwi Consortium, also took part in the event.
Left to right: Lorenzo Tosi and Fausto Bertaiola.
Author: Luca Veronesi for FreshPlaza