Korea opens to Italian kiwifruit
Italian kiwifruit will soon be allowed into South Korea. A draft version of the final import protocol has already been published and the final version should be in place by October 2012 before the start of the new season.
The Korean market during the winter period is shaped by the local growers, a strong Zespri presence (although off-season) and some minor volumes from the United States. Italian kiwifruit will have to compete on quality and prices against a well established market structure.
Italy is the largest kiwifruit grower in the world with nearly 500,000 tons grown on 27,600 hectares. The main variety is Hayward (95%), followed by Zespri Gold and Jintao, another yellow fleshed variety. Summerkiwi is an early green flesh and tasty variety, grown under license on 315 hectares.
Picture: Italian yellow flesh kiwifruit
More about:
- IKO2010: Italian and world outlook on kiwifruit – (CSO – Italian)
- Italian kiwifruit: competitiveness and outlooks (slides of conference 21/04/2011) – Italian
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