Enzafruit New Zealand (Continent), the Belgium-based subsidiary of New Zealand exporter Enza / Turners & Growers (T&G), is to collaborate with international kiwifruit marketer Zespri to run a trial commercial programme for 100 pallets of Enza Gold kiwifruit in Europe, Eurofruit can reveal.
The news represents a significant breakthrough for T&G and Zespri, which this time last year were locked in a bitter courtroom battle over the former's desire to break the latter's status as New Zealand's sole kiwifruit exporter.
It also comes against the backdrop of a major downturn in gold-fleshed kiwifruit production in New Zealand caused by an outbreak of vine disease Psa, losses which have raised concerns over the availability of Zespri's Gold-branded volumes.
At the end of last month, the group officially launched a new gold variety in Europe, branded as SunGold, a product which is said to have shown good tolerance to Psa.
Enzafruit managing director Tony Fissette said that while the programme was quite small, it was important that it was done at a level which would give customers the opportunity to see and gain confidence with the product.
Zespri's own general manager in Europe, Bert Barmans, commented that increasing growth in the gold kiwifruit category meant the trial would give both Enza and Zespri 'a better understanding of how the category could be built for the benefit of customers and New Zealand kiwifruit growers'.
The new joint programme will be the first time Enza and Zespri have worked together to sell kiwifruit in Europe, although they have collaborated previously to market kiwifruit in the Southern Hemisphere for many years.
Fissette and Barmans revealed that both companies were looking forward to putting recent tensions behind them to taking a practical approach to understanding how they might work together in the future.
