This will be the third year Viva Tierra Organic will import organic kiwi from Italy. The program will focus on the East Coast for green fruit and will increase the amount of gold kiwi shipped to the West Coast.
“The first arrivals landed in Philadelphia about three weeks ago and the first container of gold kiwi will arrive on the West Coast the week of November 23,” said Paul McCaffrey of Viva Tierra Organic. “Product out of New Zealand and Chile is almost done, so we will just compete with California kiwi.” The prominence of California green kiwi is the reason Viva Tierra will limit its imports of green Haywards to the East Coast, where transportation cost advantages mean there's more of a market for imported kiwi.
“We will double the amount of shipments of gold kiwi this season and import half as much of the green kiwi,” said Paul. “I think the market was flooded last season with kiwi from Europe, but this year supplies are tighter, demand is better and prices for green kiwi are up.” There is still competition from other importers who deal with European kiwi, but the market is open enough for good returns.
“We'll continue to sell our kiwi in our retail-ready pouch bags,” said Paul. “It's a clean pack that allows the consumer to see the kiwi, and retail chains really like these kind of value-added packs.”
