“Our fruit is eating superbly,” said Peter Beaven, chief executive of industry body Pipfruit NZ. “Our apples have the highest brix and best texture for some years, and our major customers have been prepared to pay us a considerable premium over other southern-hemisphere origins.”
Volumes exported to date are very similar to the last two years. Last year to the end of April, exporters had shipped 129,000 tonnes. This year, at the same point, 122,000t have been exported. However, Royal Gala is down on pre-season estimates, with only 66 per cent shipped to date compared with 75 per cent at the same time in 2006. “Our pre-season estimates have been very accurate for the past three years - within three per cent,” said Beaven. “Even now we are getting a lot of variation - some businesses are on estimate and others are well short. There is a reasonable amount in CA storage that will come out in about two weeks for packing. Also, some exporters have been deliberately leaving US supply onshore in NZ longer than last year to avoid storage costs in the US. But we can’t find enough Royal Gala left to hit the 6.1 million TCE pre-season estimate.”
The only apple from New Zealand in the UK in any volume at this stage is Cox. “There are small amounts of Royal Gala, but no-one has large programmes for supply until Braeburn arrives in about two or three weeks,” said Beaven. “Cox is selling at higher prices than in either of the past two years. There are only limited volumes available and few reports of quality problems.”
And happily, the shortage of vessels which threatened fruit availability in NZ’s major markets has abated. “I am pleased to say that the shipping issue is largely now resolved after several weeks of agony,” said Beaven. “The main shipping companies managed to get enough equipment here to catch up.”
Pipfruit NZ expects an 11 per cent increase in exports this year on 2006 to 299,000t.
No comments yet