Asia is looming as a key market for Zespri’s recently-commercialised gold kiwifruit variety SunGold.
Zespri president of global sales and marketing, Dan Mathieson, said SunGold sales had been solid in 2013, with the majority of this year’s crop sold in Japan. Significant volumes were also allocated to Korea and China.
The variety, also known as Gold3, has shown a greater level of tolerance to the Psa vine killing disease than Zespri’s original gold cultivar, Hort16a, prompting a shift in the varietal profile of New Zealand’s kiwifruit crop.
“We’ve had an overall positive response to this juicy new variety and its refreshing sweet/sour taste balance in Japan, the rest of Asia, Europe and North America,” Mathieson said.
“With an increased volume, we’re now able to transition from Hort16A to SunGold in more key markets and sales are going well.”
Overall, Zespri’s gold volumes fell this year, largely due to the transition from Hort16A to SunGold.
New Zealand’s single-desk kiwifruit marketer has chosen to allocate the reduced gold volumes based on the historical volumes of each individual market, resisting the temptation to favour more economically viable markets.
Mathieson said the approach will help create a platform on which to build when volumes recover from 2014 onwards.
“Work is ongoing to educate Zespri’s customers – our distributors, wholesalers and retailers – and the consumers who buy Zespri Kiwifruit about this great new gold variety,” Mathieson said.
“Zespri SunGold has a different shape and taste profile to our original Zespri Gold. New products are always challenging but we have confidence in the market appeal and supply chain performance of SunGold.”
