The French Oscar kiwi fruit season started two months ago, and still has four months left. It is still the beginning, but for Jean-Baptiste Pinel from PrimLand, it is going quite well. “So far, so good,” he explains of the current situation. “The market was not very active in December, because Zespri still had a lot of product on the market. We started harvesting our Oscar kiwi fruit about seven to ten days later than we usually would, because the sugar levels were not quite high enough yet. This was due to the climate this season. We pick the fruit when it is ready to be picked, and we therefore preferred to wait. This ensured the consumer would have better-quality fruit. After all, we market our Oscar kiwi fruit as a premium fruit.”

Reputation
Despite the delay in the harvest, Pinel is not nervous for the remainder of the season. “As a result of the delay, this season will last a bit longer than last year’s season. We are feeling quite optimistic about the European market, because the French kiwi has a good reputation, and we work hard on maintaining that reputation. We sold quite a lot of fruit last year, and sales should increase in the new year. We are therefore looking forward to the second half of the season,” Pinel explains.

Balance
The balance between supply and demand means that prices are a bit higher at the moment. “We market our French Oscar as a premium kiwi fruit. In recent years, Greece started selling their kiwi fruits quickly, and at low prices, and they still continue to do so,” Pinel continues. “The US market is good for Chilean Oscar, but we are sending less French Oscar to the States, because pricing can be difficult. The US market mostly wants smaller-sized kiwi fruit, which we do not often have. We are therefore not very active on this market.”

Different markets
Last month, the company sent its first ever batch to Vietnam. “This is a new market for us, so our sales target will increase as a result,” Pinel says. PrimLand now sells Oscar kiwi fruit to China, South Korea and Vietnam, as well as to European countries. “Each market has its own specifications, whether they are in Asia or in Europe. This could be regarding taste, colour or size. It is up to the companies exporting to these markets to decide which fruit should be sent to which market. But generally speaking, kiwi fruit consumption is increasing worldwide. This is good because it results in a good, strong demand.”