Spain: Great future for kakis Eastern Europe

The current Bright Red kaki campaign is underway with lower prices than last season, mostly due to the weather's impact on calibres, the Russian veto and the drop in consumption as a result of the recession.

According to Jordi Motilla, manager of Quid Pro Quo Fruits, "the season has been marked by a number of factors, which have seriously affected us. Apart from the weather, marketers have been paying very high prices at origin, which could then not be held up in the markets; however, we still have about three months before the campaign is over and we can start drawing conclusions," he explains.

Kaki production is considerably increasing in Spain, especially in the Region of Valencia, where many growers are switching from oranges to kakis driven by the former's bad results. Jordi Motilla foresees a good development for the fruit in the coming years.

"Consumption has been growing continuously over the past four years, by about 25% annually, with Germany and the countries of Eastern Europe, such as Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia and Belarus, as the markets where demand has increased the most," he points out. "I believe that due to their similarities in texture, flavour and shape, the countries where apple consumption is traditionally high have great potential for the marketing of kakis," affirms Jordi.

This year, taking the Russian veto into account, "the average growth may be lower, as in addition to the lower exports to Russia, the devaluation of the Rouble and Ukraine's Hryvnia are affecting the purchasing power of consumers. We will have to wait until the end of the campaign to see the results," he adds.

Jordi assures that "because of its flavour and appearance, our customers demand mostly the Bright Red variety from Valencia, grown in the region of La Ribera del Xúquer, although we compete with other varieties from Azerbaijan in the Eastern markets sold at low prices, and with Sharon kakis from Israel, whose marketed volumes are on the rise in Europe. Tests have also been carried out in Morocco, but the results in terms of quality, just like in other Spanish production areas, are not comparable to those achieved by Valencian kakis."