The Greek Hayward kiwi season is far from over, even though all the harvesting was completed months ago. One particular Greek exporter is noticing a growth in demand lately, from all over the globe. With a lot of produce still in cold chambers, waiting for a buyer, the demand couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Greek kiwi season is quite a bit different from last season, where prices were higher and Italy could not handle the demand. There still enough to be positive about for the current season, according to Konstantinos Saleptsis, member of the sales team of Oporello: “We’re seeing the demand for kiwis growing steadily, and not from one particular area. We’re getting more orders from the Western European countries like France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. There is also a demand from Central European countries like Hungary , Slovakia and Poland. These countries seem to want the medium and smaller sizes setting up high quality requirements. There‘s sufficient demand for the flat kiwis as well. which come in equally good quality and taste despite they considered as grade two.‘’
Last year, the Greeks had an advantage over Italy, where the harvest had not been sufficient to meet the demand: “Last year the value of the kiwis was a bit higher due to the problems in Italy. This year they have a larger production, so we’ve lost this advantage over them. This means quite a bit more competition. Luckily our geographical position is still favorable, as we can export to all the countries overseas. We have a steady demand from Saudi Arabia, the United Arabian Emirates and India as well. Transporting from Greece to West-India only takes 18 days. But countries like the United States and Canada are also viable options to export to.” Saleptsis explains.
In terms of challenges, the crop of Greek kiwis is slightly less this year, but the biggest issue are the sizes: “This year we’ve seen more medium sized kiwis than large ones. The fact that this is the largest issue we’ve had this season should tell you there were hardly any problems this year at all. We were still able to meet demand and the medium sized kiwis have sold just as well,” Saleptis says. “But one of our goals for the future would be to increase our production. We’re currently looking into obtaining some more land to cultivate our apples, pears and kiwis on. Some new property would go a long way in increasing the volumes we produce.”
For more information:
Konstantinos Saleptsis
Oporello
Tel: +30 2410 972700
Email: Oporelloe2@lamproulis.gr
www.oporello.gr