Collaborative marketing negotiations between Turners & Growers (T&G) and Zespri have broken down for the second time, with regulator Kiwifruit New Zealand today turning down T&G’s application to export fruit beyond Australia.
T&G applied late last year to export multiple kiwifruit varieties to unspecified markets for a period of five years with renewals for up to 20 years, conditions Zespri has stated were unrealistic.
“The application could not be supported by Zespri because it amounted to open slather and T&G did not show it was in the best interests of New Zealand kiwifruit growers, as the law requires,” said Zespri’s CEO Lain Jager.
In April this year, Kiwifruit New Zealand (KNZ) advised T&G to discuss the conditions of the application with Zespri and resubmit a revised proposal.
Zespri had in response proposed a one-year export trial of T&G’s proprietary kiwifruit varieties – some of which have not yet been planted in New Zealand – a deal the company’s managing director Jeff Wesley said was too uncertain for growers investing in the cultivars.
The rejection of Turners & Growers’ proposal demonstrated the anticompetitive nature of New Zealand’s single-desk kiwifruit export system, according to Mr Wesley.
“The process through KNZ has been unnecessarily lengthy and KNZ’s decision not to grant a CMA `collaborative marketing arrangement` to Turners & Growers blocks Enza from another season of exports,” he said.
“This is a deeply flawed, anticompetitive system, which allows unethical monopolistic behaviours that would not be tolerated in any other industry or international market.”
Mr Wesley said today’s result was a demonstration the collaborative marketing system didn’t work, a charge Zespri refutes.
“Collaborative marketing is working,” said Mr Jager. “Already Zespri works with 13 companies, including T&G, which are exporting kiwifruit beyond Australia. This includes, for the first time, the recently announced collaborative marketing arrangement involving a new variety, First Gold, developed by Gisborne-based First Fresh.”
Mr Jager said Zespri would continue to work with T&G if it made a revised CMA proposal, but Mr Wesley told local media this was the last application Turners & Growers would submit.
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