WELLINGTON: As two major Southern Hemisphere kiwifruit suppliers recover from production problems caused by separate issues over recent years, export volumes so far this season have seen significant boosts. kiwi_58915051
New Zealand’s recovery for the 2010 outbreak of the kiwifruit vine disease Psa meant it was able to ship 91,200 metric tons (MT) during March and April, representing a 40% increase over last year, according to figures from UN Comtrade.
A fifth of the Oceanic country’s volumes were sent to Japan, its main market.
Across the Pacific, Chile’s production has also recovered substantially from the last season that was affected by severe frosts that hit the agricultural industry in September 2013.
The South American country’s shipments up until the end of May were 36% higher year-on-year, with 64,731MT, an a further 21,324MT had been exported in the first two weeks of June, according to Chile’s Office of Agricultural Research and Policy (ODEPA).
The country’s main markets have been the U.S. (20%), the Netherlands (12%) and Italy (10%).
The figures also include shipments of organic kiwifruit which totaled 2,338MT, and were principally sent to Italy, which received a whopping 49%.
While Chile’s exports have seen strong recovery over last year, they are not as high as the volumes shipped in 2013 until the end of May, which stood at 76,481MT.
Prices for Chilean kiwifruit in the U.S. have been rising since mid-May, hitting a shipping point price of US$1,56 per kilogram in week 25, according to market intelligence platform Agronometrics.
That price is 40% lower than the same time last year, but still higher than 2013, 2012 and 2011.
