New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri has defended its decision to spend an estimated NZ$500,000 in order to host clients mostly from Europe and Asia on a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to the country in mid-February.
While the hosted visit was described in a report on TVNZ’s One News as a “luxurious junket”, Zespri said the 29 buyers and importers invited to take part represented about a billion NZ dollars in annual kiwifruit sales.
“This was a great opportunity to discuss our kiwifruit business,” the company was quoted as saying in a press statement issued in response to allegations it had presided over “week-long festival of debauchery”.
Reporter Heather du Plessis-Allan listed a number of items she said had been paid for by Zespri during the visit, including two corporate boxes at the Cricket World Cup match between New Zealand and Australia, helicopter flights to a round of golf at an exclusive hotel in the Bay of Islands and a private jet to Queenstown for “more outdoor activities”.
“They’ve done obscene things with our money, and it just simply is unacceptable,” commented kiwifruit grower Rob Thode, an elected member of industry body New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc (NZKGI) and already known in the business as one of Zespri’s harshest critics.
“It’s just simply not on, when we’re so pushed to recover from Psa and everything that’s happened,” Thode added, referring to the industry’s recent struggle to contain an outbreak of the devastating vine disease.
While no other grower was available to comment on the matter, Du Plessis-Allan said Thode was cross “like every grower we’ve spoken to about this”.
