Spanish kiwis seek to conquer domestic market

The kiwi harvest season started in early November for the producer and exporter of fruit and vegetables, TC Fruits, with the harvest of the Hayward variety. Luciano Martinez said: "This year the weather has not been favourable; the flowering was good, but the spring was wet and cold, causing many flowers to fall off, which will result in a significant drop in production volumes."

Luciano assures that "this drop, which will affect different holdings to different extents, also entails that average calibres will be larger, which is problematic, as small calibres are the most demanded by distributors."

In other European countries, such as Greece, France or Italy, production has increased. "Only Portugal is in a more dramatic situation than us," said Luciano, "because in addition to the weather, the PSA has been wreaking havoc. It is yet unknown why some farms are more affected than others, but the disease affects mostly males and young plants."

In any case, unlike in Portugal, where Luciano says there is lack of unity between producers and few technical controls, Galician producers are grouped into a smaller number of associations, "so we manage to enforce more successful prevention measures."

In terms of markets, for now Spanish kiwis focus on the domestic market.

"Overseas markets have been explored, but competition from France or Italy is very strong. Italy and Greece may cause prices to be heavily under pressure this year, as the Russian veto will bring an increase in supply in the European market," affirms Luciano.

In Spain, some 120,000 tonnes of kiwi are consumed per year, of which the country produces about 20,000 tonnes. For TC Fruits, the marketing season runs from December to May. "Outside of that window, New Zealand almost exclusively, as well as Chile, monopolise the market," explains Luciano.

Within this context, the representative of TC Fruits' kiwi line believes in the growth potential of Spanish kiwis. "The best production areas in Spain can achieve better quality than, for example, important production areas in Italy, and this means you can achieve good market penetration, which is indeed happening."

TC Fruits markets its kiwis under the "Raíces" brand ("Roots"); a name which, according to Luciano, in addition to becoming a symbol of quality, "wishes to symbolise that the product is local. That is precisely the strategy behind the marketing: the promotion of domestic consumption."

More information
Cristóbal Monteagudo
TC FRUITS
T. (+34) 902 006 975
M: (+34) 671824703
critobal@tcfruits.com
marketing@tcfruits.com
www.tcfruits.com