Italian kiwifruit exports climb 26.4% to €700 million as Macfrut 2027 puts kiwi and Chile centre stage

Kiwifruit as the symbol product, Chile as the focus country and Piedmont as the partner region: these are the three pillars of the 44th edition of Macfrut, the international fruit and vegetable trade fair organised by Cesena Fiere, which will be held in April 2027 at the Rimini Expo Center. The programme was presented during the Salone del Gusto in Turin, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

Kiwifruit exports reach €700 million

Italy is the largest kiwifruit producer in Europe, with output of roughly 400,000 tonnes, and ranks third worldwide behind only China and New Zealand. Production is concentrated in five regions: Calabria, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Veneto and Piedmont, the last of which will serve as partner region for the 2027 fair.

According to Il Sole 24 Ore, Italian kiwifruit sales abroad grew 19.8% in volume and 26.4% in value last year, reaching about €700 million. That performance has made the fruit one of the main engines of Italian fresh produce exports and the reason organisers chose it as the symbol product of the next edition.

Five destinations account for the bulk of shipments:

• Germany, which absorbs a quarter of Italian kiwifruit exports
• Spain
• Belgium
• France
• United States

The spread between volume and value growth — 6.6 percentage points — points to higher average unit prices over the period. Export revenue therefore expanded faster than the tonnage leaving the country. The concentration of demand is the other side of the picture: with a single market taking a quarter of shipments and five markets covering most of the rest, Italian exporters remain tied to demand conditions in a small group of buyers, four of them inside the European Union.

Chile: cherry area nearly doubles, exports hit $8.5 billion

Chile will be the focus country of Macfrut 2027. Il Sole 24 Ore describes the country as a textbook case of specialisation, built on two product lines: cherries and nuts, namely hazelnuts and walnuts.

Between 2020 and 2025 the area planted with cherry trees in Chile expanded from about 39,600 hectares to nearly 77,800 hectares, supported by heavy investment in varietal innovation.

Export performance followed the planting. Chilean fruit and vegetable sales abroad reached $8.5 billion in 2025, up 16% on the previous year, driven by a strong position in the Chinese market.

For Italian operators, Chile is a competitor on international markets and at the same time an important outlet for horticultural technology, above all packaging machinery and irrigation systems.

Buyers, machinery and a parallel poultry fair

Macfrut 2027 will run for three days at the Rimini Expo Center, with a programme built around markets and research and with business-to-business meetings at its core. The previous edition attracted 900 international buyers, helped by scouting carried out by the Italian Trade Agency.

The exhibition will also cover technology along the whole chain, from packaging and machinery to irrigation systems and pre- and post-harvest solutions — the same categories Italian suppliers sell into markets such as Chile. Held in the same venue is Fieravicola, the only trade fair entirely dedicated to the chicken and egg supply chain.