Growers in Spain’s Ribera del Xúquer valley overcame adverse weather conditions to achieve decent supply and excellent eating quality this season, the region’s regulatory council has reported.
Heavy rainfall and hailstorms earlier in the season resulted in a 15 per cent overall drop in the number of fruits exported to the UK, with just over 4,000 tonnes of PDO Persimon sold between October and January versus 4,600 tonnes the year before.
This resulted in an almost equal decline in exports to all overseas markets – 81,000 tonnes of Persimon was exported worldwide.
The Kaki de la Ribera del Xúquer regulatory council, which governs the fruit’s PDO status, repored that fruit quality remained excellent.
Head of the councilRafael Peruchosaid: “The Kaki Persimon is a product that is gradually growing in awareness and popularity among consumers, and we hope to further expand the market share and to build on its continued success.”
Persimonis the trademarked name for the PDO-certified Spanish fruit, spelt with a single ‘m’ to distinguish it from other persimmon fruit.
The PDO status ensures it is the Rojo Brillante variety and has been grown in the Ribera del Xúquer valley region near Valencia where it was first discovered. It also guarantees the fruit comes from growers that have passed a series of checks on aspects including traceability and fruit quality.
The regulatory council and Foods from Spain have been working together since 2005 to promote Persimon to the UK market. The 2020/21 campaign consisted of retailer activity, trade and consumer advertising on BBC Good Food online, recipe creation, social media, print and digital features and press gift boxes.
The aim of next year’s campaign is to continue to create awareness among the UK consumers and trade about the fruit’s quality and “unique benefits”.
“Our goal for next season will remain the same: to increase the awareness of a product that is still relatively new in the European market. We know that it can still grow more market share,” said Perucho.
