Early rains and early cold brought an equally early end to the California persimmons season. “Last year we finished December 10th and this year we finished about a month earlier,” says Susan Bidvia-Kragie of Madera, CA’s Western Fresh Marketing Services Inc. “The cold came on early and we had early rain this year so the trees just defoliated.” As Bidvia-Kragie notes, once the leaves go away the fruit gets damaged. The season also got a later start than last year by a week—normally Western Fresh begins its persimmons business in the second or third week of September.
Quality not quantity
Along with the early end to the season, Bidvia-Kragie believes there was overall less fruit available. “That said, the fruit was beautiful. I think sizing was a little smaller—there wasn’t as much big fruit—but it was beautiful, good quality fruit.” In turn, prices boosted by some $3-$4 on average.
Buying changes
While Bidvia-Kragie says most of its fruit, its fuyus in particular, end up via volume sales to the East Coast, she is noticing an interesting buying trend. “For us in particular we have very little single layer business left. We used to do a lot more single layer tray business but now it’s all volume, everyone wants volume,” she says. “It does seem like there’s less and less of single layer tray business. That said, volume is always cheaper than the single layer tray.”
For more information:
Susan Bidvia-Kragie
Western Fresh Marketing Services Inc.
Tel: +1 559 479 2584