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California Kiwifruit Market Snapshot* The U.S. Department of Agriculture was not yet reporting prices on California kiwifruit, however grower-shipper reports ranged from $12 to $18 for 19.8-pound cartons with smaller sizes $12-13, medium sizes $14-16 and larger sizes $16-18. Some California growers already are harvesting kiwifruit, and others should be starting within a week or two. Everyone seems to expect a larger, better-quality crop than last year's. Phillips Farms in Visalia started harvesting in late September, said owner Doug Phillips. He started out with a hillside orchard that tends to bloom early, but by this week he also was picking on flatland orchards. Several packers in the southern region started this week, he said, and most should be picking by next week. Quality is excellent this year, he said, and the fruit is sweeter than normal for this time of year. "We're seeing very good cylindrical shape," he said, not a "flat, squarish" shape that materializes some years. Phillips Farms expects to have up to 30% more kiwifruit this year than last year. A March 10 frost might have affected some fruit in the southern region, but any damage should be minor compared to last year, he said. Phillips Farms should harvest through October, but Phillips said some growers might pick until mid-November. Most ship until March and try to finish by the time Chilean fruit returns in April. Growers experience some competition from Italy at this time of year, he said. Most Italian product is sold on the East Coast. Growers for Fantastic Produce, an organic shipper in Folsom, are in the northern growing area and start later than those in the central or southern part of the state, said owner Tom Ikelman. "My growers also wait until they get 7% sugar before they start harvesting so (the kiwis) are more mature and taste better when they are picked," he said. The company should start picking at the end of October, its normal start date. "We're looking at a good-quality crop and more of a normal production year," Ikelman said. Last year, some growers lost much of their crops for several reasons, he said, including freezes and poor pollination. "This year, Mother Nature has been kind to us, and we're looking for a good year," he said. He expects a good distribution of sizes, peaking on 36s and 39s, unlike last year when fruit was unusually small because of poor pollination. The organic crop usually is available until May, when supplies from New Zealand begin to arrive. "We make sure we carry enough inventory to take car of our regular customers through then," Ikelman said. Kingsburg Orchards in Kingsburg will have only a small crop of kiwifruit this year - 24,000 to 25,000 cartons - said sales manager Bob Maxwell. "We're probably going to be done (picking) next week," he said. "The quality is outstanding," he added. "The sizes are good, the crop is clean, and it seems to be very uniform." But he added that, "Kiwi is not something you sell truckloads of. People buy a pallet or two." Statewide volume of California kiwis is expected to be at least 6.5 million cartons this season, and possibly as much as 7 million, said Nick Matteis, associate manager of the California Kiwifruit Commission in Sacramento. About 99% of the kiwifruit grown in the U.S. is grown in California, he said. The commission does not have much of a domestic promotions budget, but it does cooperate with the California Grown program and also conducts export promotions in emerging markets, Matteis said. About 25% of the crop is exported, mostly to Mexico and Canada. He added that consumer interest in kiwifruit remains high despite the sour economy, in part because health-conscious consumers are attracted to the product's nutrients and beneficial calories. (By Tom Burfield, Western correspondent for The Packer. The Packer and Red Book Credit Services are part of food360º, a division of Vance Publishing Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill.)
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