New Zealand single-desk kiwifruit marketer Zespri is expecting far greater year-on-year volumes of its SunGold variety from Italy this year, according to website Stuff.co.nz. 

Production is reportedly forecast to come in at 18,500 metric tons (MT), compared to the 8,000MT grown in 2015.

Around 36,000MT of the Hayward variety are also expected to be produced.

The story said that although the relatively new SunGold variety could be harder work for growers, the prices made it an attractive option. Last season some earned up to US$1.80 a kilogram for the best quality, compared to US$0.30-40 for green.

SunGold - also known as G3 - was commercialized in 2010 and hastened into production after the Psa disease devastated its predecessor, Hort16a. Zespri owns plant rights to the new SunGold for at least another 20 years.

About 40% of the company's 500 contracted Italian growers are in the Lazio region, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Zespri's head of global supply for Europe, Craig Thompson, was quoted as saying Italy was "an ongoing growth story", and that fruit sizing and volumes looked "promising" this year.

Behind China and New Zealand, Italy is the third largest producer in the world with 570,000MT, with Zespri accounting for 6% of that tonnage.

At present there are 850 hectares of SunGold in production in Italy, with another 1200 recently planted, according to the story.

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com