Kiwifruit company wants to add 2,500ha of mainly SunGold to its offshore production in next six years, but needs green light from its NZ members
Kiwifruit marketer Zespri looks set to ask its member growers in New Zealand next month to vote on plans for an additional 2,500ha of the fruit in Italy, France, Greece, South Korea and Japan.
As reported earlier this week in the NZ Herald, the company needs to win support for the expansion project if it is to capitalise on growing demand for kiwifruit, especially yellow-fleshed varieties, in the international market.
A vote could come as early as November, but it remains unclear whether growers are fully convinced about the merits of so-called offshore expansion, the newspaper suggested.
If the proposal is approved, additional plantings would increase its non-NZ volumes – known more formally as Zespri Global Supply – by around 50 per cent.
This would give it more counter-seasonal volume to supplement its New Zealand crop, and therefore supply more customers for 12 months of the year.
To that end, it is expected to invite growers to consider its plan to license an extra 420ha per year in the Northern Hemisphere over the next six years.
An earlier proposal for 10,000 additional hectares received just under 70 per cent support from growers in 2022, short of the required 75 per cent threshold.
Nick Kirton, Zespri’s executive officer for Northern Hemisphere supply, told Farmers Weekly around half of the new hectares would be planted with its SunGold variety in Italy. He also said Greece continued to show excellent promise as a source of kiwifruit.
