Contrary to reports last week from Chile-based horticultural consulting firm iQonsulting, New Zealand’s kiwifruit growers say the country’s upcoming crop will be a good one.
Chilean media quoted iQonsulting as forecasting a 10 per cent drop in New Zealand’s 2011 kiwifruit exports to 314,000 tonnes, largely due to damage from last year’s outbreak of kiwifruit canker, or Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae (Psa).
But officials from New Zealand’s single-desk kiwifruit marketer Zespri told Fruitnet.com that estimate is significantly off target.
“This information is not correct and does not reflect Zespri’s view of the 2011 crop estimate, nor does it accurately represent the impact of Psa,” said Jean-Louis Warnimont, Zespri’s Europe marketing manager.
“Only 11ha of kiwifruit vines have been removed due to Psa, which represents less than 0.1 per cent of the industry.”
Mr Warnimont said Zespri was optimistic about the industry, and many growers had said they had solid crop loads with good sizing.
Zespri will release an official crop estimate closer to the start of the 2011 season in early April.
John Burke, general manager of Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH), a government-industry body formed late last year to manage Psa in New Zealand, told local media the disease was only likely to reduce the country’s overall kiwifruit crop by 1-2 per cent.
But the season has been progressing so well the industry may not see any drop at all, he said.
