Stellar kiwifruit ready to roll in early October
Stellar kiwifruit ready to roll in early October
Stellar Distributing Inc. anticipates beginning its California kiwifruit harvest around Oct. 3 with an ending date in early November.
The company, headquartered in Madera, CA, provides its customers with a mix of fruit that includes kiwi, limes, grapes, figs, pomegranates, persimmons and chestnuts.
‘Kiwi Kids’ bags from Stellar Distributing.“We have had figs going for the last half of the year almost, and we are very happy with where our numbers are and where we hope they will be when we are done,” Salesman Brian Lapin told The Produce News. “For the kiwi, you don’t have rocks that will break windows. But there is still nice pressure overall. The kiwi is actually developing some nice sugar which is a good thing for the consumer.”
News about water shortages in California continues to make national headlines.
“It hasn’t affected us this year because we put in new wells a few years ago because we saw a ton of almonds being planted all around us, and that really concerned us,” Lapin stated. “We decided to drill wells double the depth we needed to just to be safe, and it has really turned out to be a nice thing because of this drought.”
Stellar moves kiwifruit from October through April. As for volume and sizing of kiwifruit this season, Lapin said, “We are seeing a crop of VF 33 and VF 36 size average, and we are seeing a bit more of the VF 40 series this year. It is still too early to tell about quality. But as long as we don’t get any rain in October or late September, we should have a really nice crop. We did about one [million boxes] in Chilean kiwi and that usually gives us a good indicator of what the kiwi crop here will be like. In all of those boxes, we had very little problems. So we are expecting good quality with ours as well.”
He anticipates overall California production will be down approximately 10 percent this season. “The main reason is because we have some smaller sizing than last year,” he commented.
Stellar services all market sectors. “We distribute all over the U.S. as well as into Mexico and Canada and any other country that needs our kiwi,” Lapin added.
One of Stellar’s newest offerings is the “Kiwi Kids” brand. “It is a way for us to try and appeal to the parents as shoppers but also the kids shopping with parents,” Lapin explained. “The Kiwi Kids box has really nice vibrant colors of yellow and green and display some really happy children on it that are visually appealing.”
Packaging includes bags, pouches, clams and VF snack sizes.
