Stellar seeing smooth transition from Italian to Chilean kiwi
Stellar seeing smooth transition from Italian to Chilean kiwi
Good quality, price point and volume have made the Italian kiwi season a winner for both Stellar Distributing and retailers alike.
What’s more, the positive experience with Italian fruit can effectively create good opportunities for Chilean kiwis, according to Stellar officials.
“The Italian kiwi season has had great quality and good-eating fruit that has had great arrivals all year,” said Kurt Cappelluti, sales manager for Stellar Distributing, based in Madera, CA. “We have had great responses from most of our customers because of the quality and price points. We are looking forward to building on that momentum and using the fervor from the Italian season and transferring that to the Chilean year.”
On top of the good quality and price point, great volume from Italy helped promote movement on Italian kiwi. It may have been the best volume in many years, according to Cappelluti. Volume in 2016 will be close to 70 million boxes, he said, compared to 45 million in 2014 and 48 million in 2015.
Good kiwi volume out of Chile will be about three weeks late. That delay should allow the Italian season to finish strong and make sure that both countries get the opportunity to maximize their crops. Volume from Chile looks to be up slightly this year to 20 million boxes from 18 million boxes in 2015, said Cappelluti.
