Market Update

California Kiwifruit

Market Snapshot

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was reporting the following prices on 19.8-pound containers of loose hayward variety No. 1 Grade kiwifruit: Size 27s mostly $18, organic $28-30; size 30s mostly $17, organic $26; size 33s $16-17, organic $26-27; size 36s $15-16, organic $25-26; size 39s mostly $14, organic $24; size 42s $12-13; size 45s $10-11.

*Prices from the USDA's National F.O.B. Review, Nov.28.

The Shipping Scene

Growers of California kiwifruit have all but finished picking their crops for this year, but supplies should remain available until March or April.

While smaller fruit should be in plentiful supply, larger sizes may be harder to come by.

John Fagundes, owner of Cal Harvest Marketing Inc., Hanford, said much of his large-sized kiwifruit already has been committed. The company finished harvesting Nov. 13, on schedule, and quality looks good, he said.

Cal Harvest this year converted 30% of its crop to certified organic.

Last January's freeze might have something to do with the lower volume and smaller fruit size for this year's California kiwifruit crop, he said.

Cal Harvest's crop is down about 20% compared to last year.

At Kliewer Packing in Reedley, Jerry Kliewer also reported good quality with fruit typically one or two sizes smaller than last year and volume down 10% to 15% from last season.

Part of the reason sizing may seem smaller on this year's crop is because last year, growers saw some of the largest fruit sizes ever, he said.

Growing conditions were average this season. "There were not many extremes," Kliewer said.

Kliewer said he was aware of one kiwifruit grower in Lindsay who lost his entire crop to the freeze, but he added that freeze damage was not widespread.

So far, prices have been good this season, he said. He attributed the strong pricing in part to the fact that not as much product from Italy, the world's largest producer of kiwifruit, is coming into the East Coast because of the weaker U.S. dollar.

Although nearly all the kiwifruit produced in California is the green hayward variety, some gold kiwifruit is produced by a few growers, said Steve Woodyear-Smith, kiwifruit category director for the Oppenheimer Group, Vancouver, British Columbia, which markets the product for New Zealand based Zespri Group Ltd.

California-grown gold kiwifruit will be sold primarily under Zespri's D'lish label.

Like the state's traditional kiwifruit, gold variety fruit also is smaller this year, but that creates marketing opportunities for bagged programs, Woodyear-Smith said.

Eating quality on the gold fruit is excellent, he added. It should be available from California through January.

This year's California kiwifruit crop should be slightly less than 6 million 7-pound tray equivalents, said Barbara Windmiller, manager of the Reedley-based Kiwifruit Administrative Committee, which is responsible for setting grades and standards for the fruit.

Last year's crop was 6.8 million tray equivalents.

Quality is good out of the state's two main kiwifruit growing areas - Tulare, Kings and Fresno counties in the central part of California and Butte, Yuba and Sutter counties north of Sacramento, she said.

"Except for a few stragglers," the state's kiwifruit harvest for the year is complete, she said. The state has nearly 4,000 acres of kiwifruit vines.

More than 98% of the kiwifruit produced in the U.S. is grown in California, she said. The U.S. also imported about 13 million tray equivalents in 2006. Up to 25% of the state's crop is exported to countries such as Canada, Mexico and Korea.

Kiwifruit, which is becoming more and more popular as a fruit that is eaten out of hand, is quite nutritious, she said.

"Ounce for ounce, it's the most nutrient-dense fruit," she said, "with more vitamin C than an orange, more vitamin E than an avocado and more potassium than a banana."

(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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