Almost four years after the discovery of Psa,Zespri chief executive Lain Jager talks to Fruitnet about the New Zealand kiwifruit industry’s road to recovery and the restructure of the single desk marketer's Chinese business.
How is production shaping up this season?
Lain Jager: New Zealand will be a little bit earlier than last season. Fruit size is looking good and it has been a kind winter and a good spring period for us. Green volumes will track at a similar volume to last year and we should see a bit more gold starting to come through; perhaps around 17m trays, up on the 13m we did last year.
Is there a genuine feeling amongst growers the industry is on the recovery path from Psa? If so will it be reflected in returns this season?
LJ: Optimism definitely seems to be creeping back. Where it is really reflected is orchard values. Gold orchards are back up to NZ$350,000 per hectare, while green orchards have recovered to up to NZ$250,000 per hectare. With returns, our customers were a little bit disappointed last season because we were a little bit short of both green and gold. Unfortunately it was just about serving our customers as best we could. We realise we have got another year of that as we come off the back of Psa. However, I’d be pretty disappointed if we didn’t get a similar return profile to what we did last year.
How is G3 (marketed as SunGold) being received by consumers?
LJ: The acid level in G3 is a little bit higher than Hort16a which means it is unforgiving if the dry matter levels are not high enough. In December last year we told growers if their fruit does not reach a minimum dry matter level of 16.3, up from 15.5, we’re not going to market it under the Zespri brand. We have had no pushback on this from growers at all, which reflects a recognition this variety has a different taste profile.
I understand you have reviewed the way your business is run in China since an invoicing scandal there last year. Can you tell us what this has involved?
LJ: After the issues we have had in China we terminated our business with our previous importers. We have a new import panel and last year we did the bulk our business with a reputable company, Golden Wing Mau. We have now introduced more import and distribution partners into our mix, including Goodfarmer and Dole. One of our employees, Matthew Crawford, is going to be based in China and will report to our soon to be appointed Chinese country manager. It is part of our bid to develop a really robust structure in China that still has a bit of New Zealand representation but is essentially run by locals.
The full interview with Lain Jager will appear in the March edition of Asiafruit.
