The Spanish persimon industry aims to double the fruit’s consumption in the UK in three years.

The fruit, which has Denomination of Origin (DO) status and is mainly grown in the Ribera del Xúquer valley in Valencia, has been available in the UK multiples for five years and at the moment the marketplace receives 300 tonnes a year.

José Ignacio Juarez González of Persimon marketing group Anecoop told FPJ at the company’s office in Valencia last week: “Persimon is still firmly in the exotic offering in UK supermarkets and we need to make the product known to consumers. Uptake has been a little slow, but we have been marketing the product in general for 10 years and we are coming out with good figures for a new fruit. If our progress is anything to go by, we would expect to be exporting 600-700t of persimon to the UK market in three years time.”

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