Mike Ashby of New Zealand-based kiwifruit group Eastpak has leant his support to Zespri's existing single-desk export model in the country.
Ashby, a director at the kiwifruit post-harvest operator, said that it would be a mistake to change the current marketing structure, as he believed it gave the country's growers a 'strategic advantage', Radio New Zealand reported.
He said that past experience has shown that 'unfettered competition among marketersdrives prices down', which benefits the consumer, but not the produce.
New Zealand fresh produce company Turners & Growers (T&G) last week failed in its bid to have the country's single-desk kiwifruit exporter Zespri found in breach of existing rules on commercial practice.
A high court hearing in Auckland, which began back in May, threw out all five separate charges brought by T&G againstZespri under the Commerce Act.
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