A company from Pieria travels the Greek Kiwi all over the world. The reason for the multi-shareholder joint stock company “ZEUS Kiwidia” which was founded in 1911 and has its headquarters in Karitsa, Pieria.

It is essentially a producer organization whose members are 300 growers, who produce mostly kiwifruit (a green variety and two yellow varieties) but also late varieties of table grapes and early varieties of apricots.

The largest volume of production concerns kiwis, as the sales and marketing manager of “ZEUS Aktinidia”, Christina Manosi, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, “we collect about 8,500 tons of kiwis and 2,500 tons of table grapes and 300 tons of apricots, a crop that we develop last”.

It is an export-oriented vertically integrated organization that has privately owned facilities of 12,000 sq.m. on a plot of 37 acres, storage chambers with a capacity of 10,000 tons and a state-of-the-art electronic round fruit sorter equipped with fruit quality identification cameras (inside and outside).

About 300 seasonal workers from the surrounding areas are employed in this organization.

Exports

The organization exports Greek kiwifruit to 4 continents and 30 countries, including China, the USA, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Kenya, India, etc., while as he told APE – BPE the Mr. Manosi aim to “open” new markets such as those of “Vietnam, Brazil and Japan”.

It is also the first volume exporter of kiwifruit and grapes in Great Britain, while the high quality of its products was a strong “passport” for its establishment in demanding markets such as those of the United Kingdom, the USA and Asia. Today 70% of its products are directed to markets with high quality standards, while 85% of its production is intended for Supermarket chains and 50% through British chains.

“Our goal is to remain strong in our industry by offering new varieties of kiwifruit and table grapes, always with the ultimate goal of reducing our environmental footprint,” he added.

Reduction of environmental footprint

In a short period of time “ZEUS Kiwidia” will receive the “zero waste to landfill” certification as an indication of the mentality it has acquired in the protection of environmental resources and the environment in general.

“For 13 years, our Organization has been working hard to reduce the environmental footprint in the cultivation of kiwifruit and soon also in the cultivation of grapes” pointed out Mrs. Manosis adding “all these environmental actions are born from the “mindset” of the administration, of member producers as well as its employees without having been required by any foreign market”.

Greece is second in kiwifruit production worldwide

Our country ranks second worldwide in terms of kiwi production, surpassing Italy, while New Zealand remains in first place. Total production reaches 360,000 tons per year, while according to recent forecasts, it is expected to reach 600,000 tons per year in the next five years.

In Greek territory, 135,631 acres of kiwi are cultivated, with most of them located in the area of ​​Pieria (35,000 acres), followed by ‘Arta and Kavala with 21,000 acres. In Imathia there are 19,500 acres of kiwi, in Pella 10,000 acres and in the area of ​​Xanthi an additional 8,000 acres.