Chile: Despite fall in production, improved kiwi quality

After the start of the harvest, the actual loss of kiwifruit production in Chile due to the frost registered last September, has been estimated at 55% of the production. Carlos Cruzat, from the Kiwi Committee, said, "the season could have started earlier, but since there is less volume, exporters have started it slowly, which is good for the internal quality of the fruit."

Regarding its dry matter, this season the Chilean kiwi comes with better levels than in the previous season, so, despite the significant drop in production volumes (from an original projection of 220,000 tonnes to only 100,000 tonnes) and the smaller sizes obtained, the fruit's quality and flavour will be higher.

This improvement is due to two factors: the spring weather has been very favourable for the development of the kiwis and, since there were fewer fruits on the trees, the sugars produced in the leaves have been better distributed, which resulted in a higher concentration of dry matter; thus the fruits had great potential in achieving great flavour without affecting their shelf life.

What really worries Carlos Cruzat is the amount of fruit that there will be by the end of the season, "because the markets are very nervous that we only have 45% of the total volume," and Zespri will also market lower volumes of green and yellow kiwis, so the overall markets won't be sufficiently supplied. "It is probable that the long storage programs will decrease," said Carlos.

Due to the current situation, the number of transactions in spot market has increased. However, large companies that develop programs with supermarkets are required to adopt long-term strategies. Consequently, the major Chilean companies are pursuing agreements with small producers, who otherwise would sell their own fruit in the domestic market, in order to ensure the stability of their programs. The difficulty, according to Carlos, is that this will lead to an increase in prices in the domestic market.

Chile's efforts to improve and standardize the quality of kiwis have resulted in a consistent increase in prices during the last 4 to 5 years. This should encourage an increase in the surface area devoted to the fruit, but due to the existence of the PSA, investment decisions are currently stalled. As a result, no significant growth is expected for the next three years.

Overall, production should be maintained while consumption continues to increase. Asia, Russia and Latin America, for example, consume increasingly more kiwi and, among other things, the increase in shipments to these markets has led to a reduction in shipments to Europe.

For more information:
Comité del Kiwi
Carlos Cruzat
ccruzat@comitedelkiwi.cl
Tel: +56 2 2472 4783
Cel: +56 99 825 4204
Cruz del Sur 133, piso 7, Of. 703
Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.
www.comitedelkiwi.cl