An abundance of Chilean and Italian kiwifruit this season have kept prices down recently, and New Zealand imports may further boost available volumes in the coming weeks.
“The kiwifruit market is not so good when compared to what growers were expecting or needing,” said Chris Kragie from Western Fruit Marketing. “There was an overabundance of Italian fruit during the start of the Chilean season, and there's still some of that Italian fruit around.”
That amount of fruit has kept prices in check. On May 23, prices for a nine-kilogram container of size 20 loose Haywards from Chile were between $12.00 and $14.00 at the Philadelphia port of entry and Los Angeles ports of entry.
Kragie added that there are a lot of bigger sizes available, which could further contribute to a down market because New Zealand fruit brought into the U.S. tends to be on the large side.
“About a quarter of the kiwifruit we're bringing in right now is size 33 and smaller, and about 75 percent is larger than size 33,” explained Kragie. “New Zealand gets started in two weeks, so it's not good that we have so much large fruit.”
