In an expedited court hearing, the New Zealand High Court has ordered kiwifruit industry regulator Kiwifruit New Zealand (NZ) to reconsider collaborative marketing proposals put forward by Splice Fruit and Seeka Kiwifruit that were previously rejected by the Kiwifruit NZ board.
Kiwifruit NZ board had rejected proposals by Splice Fruit to export 400,000 trays of green Class 1 fruit to Austria, and Seeka’s proposals to export 400,000 trays of green fruit to China’s Hainan Island, and 120,000 trays of green fruit to Chian’s Xinjiang province during the 2016 season.
All three of these proposals were rejected on 22 December 2015, with none of the applications supported by Zespri.
The board rejected the Splice proposal on the basis that it wasn’t consistent with creating brand value and premium returns to New Zealand suppliers; the Seeka cases were rejected on the basis that the fruit sold into Hainan Island could ‘leak’ into mainland China, and that in Xinjiang province selling kiwifruit under the Seeka brand could lead to a substitution risk for Zespri branded programmes.
The court heading was fast-tracked due to the 2016 season already being underway.
Since single-desk kiwifruit marketer Zespri was established by the New Zealand government in 1999, any party wishing to partake in collaborative marketing to export markets other than Australia needs to seek approval from the Kiwifruit NZ board.
Justice Paul Heath ruled that, based on past experience, the kiwifruit exporters were entitled to believe that an appeals process would take place, and that a rehearing by the board for all three cases was necessary.
