The New Zealand kiwifruit season is now underway with growers in the Gisborne region the first to begin picking this week.
According to Zespri’s GM supply chain, Sally Gardiner, predictions are volumes should be similar to last year when the global marketing company exported around 100m trays.
“Growing conditions have been fantastic, with more rainfall and higher temperatures on average compared to last season and we are expecting a great crop as a result,” she said.
It is expected the first consignment will be shipped from New Zealand next week and will arrive in overseas markets in mid April, she added.
“We are confident that there will again be strong demand for Zespri’s premium kiwifruit in overseas markets despite ongoing global economic uncertainty and the still-to-be-determined impact on demand in our key market of Japan from the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami,” she said.
“We also face the challenge of Psa, and as an industry we are working together as a cohesive and focused team, alongside government, to address it. While monitoring and hygiene practices throughout the industry have changed as a result of Psa, the number of orchards impacted still represents less than 2 per cent of the industry and customers will not see any impact on sales volumes in our overseas markets this year.”
Zespri’s PR events and marketing campaigns this year will continue to focus on the health and vitality benefits of Zespri kiwifruit.
The fruit should go on sale in mid-April in Asia, and in early May throughout Europe and in North America.
Among the early season fruit to be picked are two of the new varieties of Zespri kiwifruit – an early gold variety, and an earlier, sweeter green variety - released to growers in June last year for commercial use. A third variety, a potentially long-storing gold variety which has the potential to extend the Zespri Gold selling season, was also released to growers at the same time.
This year Gisborne company First Fresh, in a collaborative marketing agreement with Zespri, will hold consumer trials of an early season gold kiwifruit called First Gold.
First Fresh managing director, Ian Albers, says First Gold fruit is already on the water to Singapore and Thailand with arrival in the marketplace timed for late March or early April. “We were very pleased with the taste and appearance of this fruit and look forward to seeing it firsthand when it arrives.”
Zespri’s director of corporate and grower services, Carol Ward, says licences to grow the new varieties were snapped up by growers last year, which was a great show of confidence in the future of the New Zealand kiwifruit industry.
“Innovation is vital to the future growth of Zespri and the New Zealand kiwifruit industry and the new varieties are the result of Zespri and Plant & Food Research working together for over 20 years to establish the world’s largest and most successful kiwifruit breeding programme,” Ms Ward says.
Zespri has announced it will make available at least 200ha of kiwifruit variety licences to kiwifruit growers in June this year, and potentially more subject to further supply chain and in-market consumer assessment in the next few months.
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