Peter Ombler, president of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI), has said he sees a positive future for the country's kiwifruit industry, following an improvement in grower return forecasts for the 2010/11 season announced during the export marketer Zespri's annual general meeting today.
'Growers have been invigorated by recent events and the release of the new Zespri kiwifruit varieties,' commented Mr Ombler. 'The industry is in good heart.'
The past few days have witnessed a number of significant developments for New Zealand's kiwifruit industry, including the predicted increase in grower payments – which comes despite the difficult financial situation worldwide – and last week's High Court ruling in favour of preserving the kiwifruit industry’s current structure.
Representing the interests of New Zealand kiwifruit growers, one of NZKGI's most important functions is to monitor Zespri's performance and make submissions to the group regarding policy, contracts and procedures.
Last year, the association was involved in renegotiating Zespri's commission for the next three years.
At NZKGI's annual general meeting (also held today), this monitoring role was reviewed and the highlights of the previous year were discussed.
According to Mr Ombler, NZKGI had effectively lobbied the New Zealand government and taken a key role in the court case brought by T&G, with the aim of preserving the industry’s Single Point of Entry (SPE) structure.
The position adopted by NZKGI was mandated by a Colmar Brunton poll, conducted in February this year, which showed that 90 per cent of kiwifruit growers agreed the SPE was critical for the future success of the industry.
Commenting on Zespri’s AGM, Mr Ombler noted that Zespri had continued to perform well in its markets and was working to increase Green returns.
'The future of the kiwifruit industry depends on innovation and cutting-edge marketing by Zespri,' he said.
Zespri’s own research spend was NZ$9m (€4.97m) in the last financial year, supported by additional government funding.
'This compares well to other primary industries where onshore competition hampers collaborative innovation,' Mr Ombler noted.
'The most recent comparison (2008) shows kiwifruit research spend of 2.5 per cent of revenue compared to dairy produce’s 1.5 per cent.'
Zespri's export earnings between 2000 and 2009 had a compound growth rate of 9.88 per cent, Mr Ombler added, growth which he said was underpinned by continuing grower support for the structure within which Zespri operates.
'By contrast apples, New Zealand’s second largest fresh fruit export crop, had negative growth over that period,' he observed.
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