Data published by Stats NZ indicates huge increase in revenue for country’s single-desk kiwifruit export marketer Zespri
New figures released by Stats NZ show that New Zealand’s kiwifruit exports topped NZ$3.1bn (€1.74bn) in the year to August 2024, up 20 per cent on the same period of 2022/23. “Kiwifruit export values for the season so far are the highest they have ever been,” the analyst’s international trade manager Viki Ward said.
“The kiwifruit export season is typically from March to November.” Marketed predominately as SunGold, yellow-fleshed kiwifruit exports were NZ$2.4bn (€1.35bn), up 24 per cent on the year ended August 2023.
That growth was apparently driven by a 23 per cent increase in exported volumes.
Green kiwifruit exports, meanwhile, were NZ$737m (€415m), up 9.9 per cent compared with the same period.
That increase was said to be driven by a 9 per cent increase in prices.
“Growers in New Zealand are increasingly planting gold, and now red, kiwifruit, to capture greater export value in markets like China and Japan,” Ward added.
The top destination for SunGold was China, while the top destination for the Hayward variety, sold mainly as Zespri Green, was the European Union.
