The Spanish Rojo Brillante kaki season came to a close between January and February; earlier than usual and with high prices due to a significantly smaller harvest. Now, kakis are returning to European shelves, straight from South America.
"We have received the first kaki containers from Uruguay and we are starting our sales today," said Manuel Baides, manager of Grupo Fruta de Autor. "This year, we have again visited Uruguay to see the kaki harvest for ourselves and monitor the quality at origin."
The commercial window for this product, whose quality, according to Manuel Baides, hardly differs from that of Spanish kakis, will last until the end of June. "In the future, we aim to arrive earlier and minimize the overlap with the summer fruit campaign, since consumers are not too keen on the product from July onwards, as also happens with watermelons during the winter months. By starting earlier with the marketing, closer to the colder months, consumption should increase," he said.
"This year, we have slightly increased our volumes compared to last season, and the quality is splendid," says Manuel Baides. "Although Uruguay is producing less kaki than Peru at the moment, we believe in this country's potential for the cultivation of this fruit, and we trust our partners there. These first few years have served as a trial, and the results have been pretty good, so the product has become another good alternative for Uruguayan producers. Therefore, in the future, we hope to continue working in the off-season kaki business and grow in terms of volume to be able to supply more distribution chains, including the largest ones, on a constant basis."
"Costs have gone up compared to last season, but the lower freight rates are making up for that. This year, in addition to maintaining and boosting our sales in Europe, we hope to also start delivering air shipments to the Arab Emirates," says the manager of Fruta de Autor.
For more information:
Andreu Monrabal
Fruta de Autor SL
T: +34 961 018 189
M: +34 645 18 15 11
comercial2@frutadeautor.com
www.frutadeautor.com
www.grupoautor.es