The New Zealand kiwifruit season has suffered delays to picking due to rainfall.
“The season started off well, with picking getting underway earlier than last season, and fruit arriving in the markets earlier than last year,” a Zespri spokeswoman told FPJ. “The high rainfall over the past few weeks has been frustrating for some growers and this season has had to be managed to minimise the impact of this in the market.”
Growers have indicated to the single-desk marketer that picking should be complete by mid- to late June.
“Dry matter for Zespri green and Zespri Gold is tracking well and our consumers and customers say quality is better than last year,” said the spokeswoman. The sector is having to work hard on managing quality issues in New Zealand before product is shipped.
The latest crop estimate is up marginally to 66 million green and 18m Gold trays. The organic crop estimate is 2.4m trays.
So far the green Hayward crop is 57 per cent packed, with 40 per cent completed grower lines. Zespri Gold is 85 per cent packed.
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