Kiwifruit, Italy's production set to rise

The provisional kiwifruit production forecasts for the Northern Hemisphere, released at the recent International Kiwifruit Organization (IKO) annual summit held in Spain-Oviedo and Santiago de Compostela, were presented again last Wednesday October, 8 in Verona, northern Italy.

 

Mrs. Elisa Macchi of the service centre CSO highlighted that in the forthcoming campaign Italy will improve its crop, which is expected to amount 450,000 tons (against 415,000 in 2007-2008).

On the whole, Northern Hemisphere Countries will register a marketable kiwifruit crop around 645,000 tons, rising compared to last campaign’s 587,000.

Last season Italy exported almost 70% of its kiwifruit crop, getting very good average prices. Operators appear to be optimistic for the forthcoming campaign too. Two main reasons explain the positive expectations: a non-abundant production and the high-quality of the product. In particular, Italian kiwifruit appear to have very good preservation features lasting throughout all the commercial campaign and in the final stages in particular.