The first commercial crop of PremA129 apples will be packed and exported from New Zealand in 2019, with close to 15,000 cartons of the variety set to be marketed under the brand name Dazzle.
Steve Potbury, manager of Dazzle’s master licensee Fruitcraft, said the volume is substantially up on initial projections, reflecting the “good quality and size” of fruit coming from the young trees planted over the last five years.
“The interest and excitement around Dazzle apples in New Zealand has been such that planting of orchards has been faster than expected,” Potbury said.
“We are on track to have close to 200,000 cartons packed in 2021, and close to 1m cartons by 2026.”
Seven exporters from New Zealand will eventually be selling Dazzle apples around the world, although not all of them will have fruit this season.
In order to maximise the sales opportunity with the first small crop, the exporters are working together to coordinate their sales programmes, led by Fruitcraft.
The fruit will be sold under newly developed Dazzle branding, which has been designed to reflect the apple’s characteristics.
“Dazzle apples are sweet, crisp and bright red, and consumers will be dazzled by its flavour, texture and consistently great quality,” Potbury told Fruitnet.
“The brand design will convey the life and excitement in a new apple that will dazzle the market and consumers lucky enough to be able to purchase the first few fruits available, while making sure that the premium quality is immediately obvious.”
China and a selection of South-East Asian countrieswill be the focus for sales programmes this season, while New Zealand-grown Dazzle apples will also be sent to Europe and the US.
Efforts to develop the North American market, and further opportunities in Asia, are being aided by Washington State-based growers Chelan Fruit and Gebbers Farms, who are already planting the variety in their orchards.
Meanwhile, evaluations of the first fruit from trial plantings in Europe have led Fruitcraft to believe there is very good potential for Dazzle apples to be grown and sold in this part of the world.
“We are continuing to talk to potential partners about making this a reality,” Potbury said.
