Market Update

California Kiwifruit

Market Snapshot*

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was reporting the following prices on 19.8-pound containers of hayward variety California kiwifruit:

Conventional: Size 27s and 30s, mostly $14.10-15.10; 33s, mostly $14.10-14.50; 36s, mostly $12.10-13.10; 39s, mostly $12.10; 42s, mostly $10.10-11.10; 45s, $9.10-11.10.

Organic: Size 27s, $24.10-26.10; 33s, $22.10-24.10; 39s, $19.10-21.10.

* Prices from the USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Market News, Nov.17.

The Shipping Scene

California's kiwifruit crop has bounced back from a frost that hit some areas last year, so supplies and quality should be good this season, grower-shippers say.

Hanford-based Cal Harvest Marketing Inc. will have plentiful supplies of excellent-quality conventional and organic kiwifruit this season, said president John Fagundes.

Harvesting started Sept. 28 and will finish next week. Product will be available out of cold storage through April.

Fagundes estimated that 95% to 100% of the state's kiwifruit will be picked by next week.

Volume will be up 7% at Cal Harvest because the size of the fruit is larger, he said. Prices have been lower than last year, and that makes kiwifruit a good value, he added.

Last season, some product in the northern part of the state suffered from frost damage, but that wasn't the case this year.

This season, except for some minor frost activity in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley, "we're virtually unscathed," Fagundes said.

Fagundes expects sales of California kiwifruit to be stronger than usual on the East Coast this season because Italy, which typically provides much of the product for that market, will have about 10% less fruit this year, and because he said the weak dollar will make it more difficult for Italy to compete.

Kurt Cappelluti, sales manager at Stellar Distributing Inc. in Madera, did not seem upbeat about the kiwifruit deal this week.

He said he's seeing the apparent effects of the sour economy this year that he expected to see last year.

"There's not a lot of demand for kiwi like there has been for the last 20 years in October and November," he said.

Last year, Stellar Distributing did fairly well with kiwifruit until the market dropped in late February because of oversupply, he said. But this year could end up worse if business does not pick up.

People are buying fruits and vegetables, but, so far this season, they're not making kiwifruit a priority, he said.

Kiwifruit usually is a good seller at this time of year because not much other fruit is available, he said, adding, "It's a solid piece of fruit that retailers can do ads on."

Cappelluti does not anticipate an increase in demand because of any shortfall in Italy since growers in that country produce 20 times the volume of kiwifruit as California growers.

"They're going to have to move their fruit, too," he said.

Quality from California is good this year, Cappelluti said, and sizing should be larger than last year with less 40-series fruit.

The season "is not a disaster," he said. "It's just plodding along."

The company offers conventional and organic produce.

At Wil-Ker-Son Ranch & Packing Co. in Gridley, owner Doug Wilson was pleased with this year's crop, which the company finished harvesting about a week ago.

"The quality is as good as it's been in a long time," he said, adding that the fruit has nice shape and did not experience harsh growing conditions during the summer.

"The market isn't red hot or real high-priced right now, but there's a steady demand for quality fruit," he said.

The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas typically is slow for California kiwifruit because the product has not caught on as a holiday specialty, and because fruit from New Zealand and Chile still is working its way out of the market, Wilson said.

"We see sales a little lagging in that period," he said, but movement should pick up in January.

California will produce about 6.3 million 7-pound tray equivalents of kiwifruit this year, up from 5.6 million last year, said Chris Zanobini, president of the Sacramento-based California Kiwifruit Commission.

The state produces at least 98% of the nation's kiwifruit, he said.

(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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