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Italy, too soon harvesting kiwifruit now
Italy
Friday 07 September 2007
The weather has been warm, but not enough to start harvesting kiwifruit now.
The professional association Coldiretti of the North Italy’s area of Verona has warned producers, alarmed because it seems that some farmer has already begun the harvest.
“Picking the kiwifruits now would mean bringing on markets products of a minor size at least by 20% than the average, and a minor Brix degree by 30%. Not enough ripened fruits wouldn’t be able to compete with New Zealand’s Summer Gold and Hayward varieties”. It is sufficient to wait two more weeks to have better sized and sugared fruits, Coldiretti has highlighted.
The kiwifruit harvest should begin not earlier than 10th October and the products can be put on sale from 15th November on the continent (earlier sales - from 15 October - are allowed for overseas markets). It is forbidden to sell in advance not enough ripened fruits and the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade ICE can also impose sanctions around 1.000 euros.
According to the Italian Interprofessional Memorandum 1673 of 2004, it is not allowed to put on sale kiwifruits with less than 6.2 brix degrees when harvested and 11 brix degrees for consumers, in points of sale. The minimum allowed size is 65 gr. for the current campaign and 70 for the future ones.
The kiwifruit of the North Italy’s area of Verona is a high-quality product: since years producers have been investing in modern pruning, irrigation and anti-hail technologies, superior to the European market standard. However, an anticipated harvest could affect its image mainly when competing with European, especially French, products.
The professional association Coldiretti of the North Italy’s area of Verona has warned producers, alarmed because it seems that some farmer has already begun the harvest.
“Picking the kiwifruits now would mean bringing on markets products of a minor size at least by 20% than the average, and a minor Brix degree by 30%. Not enough ripened fruits wouldn’t be able to compete with New Zealand’s Summer Gold and Hayward varieties”. It is sufficient to wait two more weeks to have better sized and sugared fruits, Coldiretti has highlighted.
The kiwifruit harvest should begin not earlier than 10th October and the products can be put on sale from 15th November on the continent (earlier sales - from 15 October - are allowed for overseas markets). It is forbidden to sell in advance not enough ripened fruits and the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade ICE can also impose sanctions around 1.000 euros.
According to the Italian Interprofessional Memorandum 1673 of 2004, it is not allowed to put on sale kiwifruits with less than 6.2 brix degrees when harvested and 11 brix degrees for consumers, in points of sale. The minimum allowed size is 65 gr. for the current campaign and 70 for the future ones.
The kiwifruit of the North Italy’s area of Verona is a high-quality product: since years producers have been investing in modern pruning, irrigation and anti-hail technologies, superior to the European market standard. However, an anticipated harvest could affect its image mainly when competing with European, especially French, products.
