Good weather will lead to a good harvest for mini kiwis in Portugal. According to Filipe Gomes, export manager for Portuguese fresh produce exporter Twinkle Green, this year’s production of mini kiwis, also known as kiwiberries, will exceed the volumes of last season.
“This year, and until today, production conditions have been good. We expect to have around 30/35% more production than the previous year, between 25 to 30 tons. This is because they are still relatively young plants that have not yet reached the year of maximum production, but also because for now we do not have significant losses due to climatic factors, which could still happen until the end of the campaign. Last year we lost in total 35% of our production, firstly due to burns, down to the high temperatures felt in July and then in September due to heavy rains that made maturation advance too much and suddenly.”
Gomes states that once buyers try a shipment of the mini kiwis, chances are they’ll come back for more with larger orders. “With our six different varieties that allow us to have staggered harvests, our season starts in the first weeks of August and can last until the end of October or even possibly until the beginning of November. Our main market is exports, mainly to France, but also to Denmark and Spain, sales in Portugal represent only 20 to 25%. Sales of our organic mini kiwis in these markets have evolved a lot, each customer only buys a few hundred kilos in the first year, but these same customers come back and double or triple the orders every year.”
The cultivation of mini kiwis has been a process of trial and error, where Twinkle Green has had to learn from their previous mistakes to reach the quality they’re at now, Gomez explains: “The challenge in growing mini kiwis all around, as it’s a relatively ‘new’ crop. This means there is little to no information, whether in terms of production processes, watering, fertilization and so on. Especially when it comes to our organic production, which is even more challenging, we have to be self-taught, learn from many tests, analyses, observations and learn a lot from our previous mistakes.”
As more countries cultivate the mini kiwis, consumption increases as well. Naturally this is a positive trend, Gomes says. “With the increase in demand, it’s good that acreage is increasing in terms of orchards, but this increase should be moderate. Demand increases as well, but at a slower pace than expected. Countries like Chili, South Africa or New Zealand are also producing mini kiwis with a production season from February to April, for me it is very positive to have another season different from the season in Europe. This means that the consumer has mini kiwi for a longer period of the year, which facilitates the increase in consumption habits.”
“Thanks to the quality and diversity of our organic mini kiwis, we are able to market all of our production each season, this year we hope, like the previous ones, to have a similar increase in exports. The expectations for this season are good. I hope to maintain partnerships with our customers, continuing the good work we have been doing. Next to our increase in production, we would like to open doors to new markets and develop our brand ‘Kiwitos’. We can offer our organic mini kiwis with plastic-free and 100% biodegradable punnets,” Gomes concludes.
For more information:
Filipe Gomes
Twinkle Green / Kiwitos
Tel: +351933634322 / +33616850154
Email: info@kiwitos.pt
www.kiwitos.pt