The 2012-13 northern hemisphere kiwifruit season looks set to see France reclaiming lost market share across the EU since Italy – the main producer – announced a 30 per cent drop in production due to frost damage.

Added to that, key southern hemisphere supplier New Zealand sold all its stock by the start of the European season. 'We started the season with a clear market, and with lower Italian volumes,' Pascale Begoulle of France's second-largest kiwifruit exporter said. 'But we hope it will be a great season,' he stressed.

The French crop is forecast to be five to 10 per cent down this year compared to last. And a wet spring and dry summer is expected to give rise to greater volumes of medium-sized fruit, grower-shippers said.

French exporters are expecting strong demand across all their markets as a result of lower global volumes, and industry-sponsored promotions are earmarked for China, Taiwan, Belgium, Germany and France this season.

Meanwhile the Italians are expecting a notable increase in prices over the next few months as a result of the smaller crop and pressure is likely to increase on product availability, particularly for overseas markets.

Adverse weather during the production period – including winter frosts and high summer temperatures – have had a serious impact on Italy's kiwifruit output this time around, with those poor growing conditions compounding the reported loss of practically all of the Mediterranean country's Hort16A (marketed as Zespri Gold) due to a recent and persistent outbreak of the bacterial disease Psa.

Having spent a great deal on promoting its kiwifruit in new, emerging markets such as China, South Korea and Russia, the Italian fresh produce trade now finds itself in a remarkably strong position as far as the balance of supply and demand is concerned.

Italian exporters sent a larger volume of kiwifruit to Brazil, Poland and the US during 2011-12, continuing recent growth in all three markets, according to a new report published by the US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service.

Quoting data from the Global Trade Atlas, the agency noted that Italy's kiwifruit exports to Brazil rose to 11,818 tonnes, up 49.8 per cent on the equivalent figure for 2010 and well above the 4,403 tonnes shipped to the Latin American country in 2009.

Shipments to the US last year, meanwhile, were up 37.9 per cent year on year at 14,738 tonnes, while those to Poland were up 10.7 per cent to 22,506 tonnes.

Conversely, the volume of Italian kiwifruit shipped to more traditional destinations was down significantly, including Germany (down 13.6 per cent to 65,451 tonnes), the UK (falling three per cent to 15,469 tonnes) and France (down 14.6 per cent to 23,394 tonnes).

Italy produces around 70 per cent of the commercial-grade kiwifruit grown in the northern hemisphere, according to the USDA, which noted that last year's crop was 448,232 tonnes, up 12 per cent on the previous season, with approximately 75 per cent of that total exported. —