The New Zealand kiwifruit harvest is underway with picking beginning in earnest in Poverty Bay and the Bay of Plenty last week.
The harvest will extend throughout the North Island and top of the South Island over the coming weeks, with early indications pointing to a larger overall crop than last year.
“The forecasted increase in volume this year will help to fulfil the industry’s aim of sales growth,” explained Doug Brown, chairman of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers (NZKGI).
“Kiwifruit is currently New Zealand’s largest horticultural export. With a strong future where sales are expected to double by 2025 and some of the highest returns in the primary sector, the New Zealand kiwifruit industry has an exciting future ahead of it.”
SunGold production is projected to come in around 62m trays, up by 8-10m trays on last year. Green production is forecast to rebound to 75m trays, up 10m trays on last year’s light crop.
Dan Mathieson, chief executive of single desk marketer Zespri, said the additional volume would be spread across all its global markets.
“We’re making investment across all our major marketsin Asia and Europe,” Mathieson told Asiafruit. “North America is a market we’re trying to accelerate, particularly with SunGold. We had a stellar result there in 2017, increasing our SunGold sales 50 per cent.”
China, which became Zespri’s number one market by volume in 2017, will continue to be a growth engine, while Japan, Taiwan and South Korea also remainkeymarkets in Asia.
While India is one of the most exciting emerging markets on the radar, Zespri struggled to supply demand last year, but Mathieson said it would become a key destination in the medium to long-term.
