Payments to growers said to reach NZ$124mn as Envy and Jazz perform well, after production recovers from Cyclone Gabrielle
New Zealand exporter T&G Global says returns for its premium Envy and Jazz apple brands are the “highest for a number of seasons”, after it delivered a reported NZ$124mn (€68.3mn) back to growers.
The improvement follows a challenging year for the company’s apple business in 2023, when Cyclone Gabrielle caused almost NZ$1.5bn (€830mn) worth of damage to production in the country’s Hawke’s Bay region.
According to T&G, this season’s result reflects the value and investment T&G has made in building consumer demand for its global brands, which it said it supported with world-class growing, post-harvest, supply chain systems, and strong in-market sales and marketing teams.
Shane Kingston, T&G’s newly promoted chief operating officer for apples, said the company’s vision and investment had strengthened grower returns.
“Significant effort has gone in over the last six years to build premium global apple brands, underpinned by integrated, best-in-class systems, from unique plant varieties, growing and quality, right through to sales and marketing,” he commented.
“Despite the setbacks from Cyclone Gabrielle and Covid-19, we’ve put considerable effort into ensuring that consumers and customers around the world experience high-quality, great-tasting premium apples.”
Smaller crop
This year’s Hawke’s Bay crop is due to be smaller in both size and volume terms, following a wet and cold spring.
However, Kingston said quality and colour was expected to be “among the best” in recent years.
“Our focus on maximising the value of this year’s fruit by strategically targeting the right markets and channels, ensuring apples met stringent market requirements, and selling early, delivered a great outcome to our growers,” he added.
In 2024, the group said returns for Envy increased by NZ$3.65 per carton compared with the figure for 2023, while Jazz achieved an increase of NZ$5.60 per carton.
Alongside its premium brands, T&G’s apple portfolio includes large volumes of Royal Gala, Pacific Queen, Poppi, Fuji, Braeburn and Pink Lady.
These have also delivered strong pricing for growers, Kingston explained. “Instead of only investing in one or two international markets, we employ a diversified marketing and sales approach that saw our high-quality commercial varieties exported to numerous countries, garnering returns that were approximately 15 per cent higher on average than 2023 across all varieties.”
The strategy had ensured resilience against turbulent international market conditions, he continued, enabling it to maintain strong prices throughout the season and maximise returns to growers.
“In Asia, our Aotearoa New Zealand-grown crop sold in a consistent and timely manner, reflecting the quality of the fruit and strength of our brands, and in November we seamlessly transitioned to our high-quality US-grown Envy and Jazz apples,” he said.
“The US fruit has been well received, and with strong sales expected over the next few months, we look forward to transitioning back to our locally grown crop in April 2025.”
German conglomerate BayWa plans to sell off T&G Global in order to help pay off billions of euros in loans, according to Reuters.
