Turners & Growers have identified New Zealand apple exports as the Group’s main future prospect for growth in their annual report for 2012, released on 15 March 2013.
2012 was a bumper year for New Zealand apple production, with volumes of Jazz apples registering a significant increase and volumes of Envy apples trebling from the 2011 to 2012 season as fruit-bearing trees came into production.
Exports to Asian markets constituted two third of overall Envy sales. This phenomenal success reflects higher overall returns more broadly from Asian markets than their traditional counterparts.
Asiafruit recently conducted an interview with Darren Drury, the new international apple sales director of Enza, an exporting company that officially merged with Turners and Growers in 2003.
Drury emphasised that the growing success of New Zealand apple exports to Asia was the result of a calculated marketing strategy in the region.
“We discovered that generating a sense of expectation among Asian consumers, then delivering what they expected was key to unlocking the Asian market,” Drury told Asiafruit.
Other notable achievements Turners & Growers identified for 2012 included their collaborative marketing agreement with Zespri, under which they have exported kiwifruit to South Korea and China, and their boost in profits from opening a second brand of their import business in Suva, Fiji.
