Persimmons

Anecoop is to begin marketing Spanish-grown persimmon in the US and Canada for the first time this autumn after carrying out two years of successful trial shipments.

From the start of October, the Valencia-based group will begin sending major volumes of fruit, some 90 per cent of which has been grown by members of Denomination of Origin (DO) organisation Kaki Ribera del Xúquer.

Although the exact quantity of the shipments has yet to be determined, the DO’s president, Cirilo Arnandis, told regional daily Levante that volumes would be well above the 200 tonnes shipped to North America last year to test the fruit’s ability to travel long distances.

Mr Arnandis told the publication that Spanish persimmon producers hoped to benefit from a “lack of competition” in the US and Canada, adding that they did not expect to clash with Brazilian persimmon, given the different timing of their season.