Wayne Prowse brings you up to speed on recent key trends in the country’s fresh fruit export trade
After a couple of seasons that many Kiwis would prefer to forget, New Zealand’s long-term growth in fresh fruit exports appears to be back on track.
In fact, the country saw a 21 per cent turnaround last year, to 1.16mn tonnes of produce exported worth US$2.76bn.
That’s a result that keeps the country’s fresh fruit exports right on track in the longer term, with annual growth of 2.9 per cent over the decade.
New Zealand is an export-focused supplier whose exports account for around 85 per cent of its 1.4mn tonnes of overall fresh fruit production.
The small South Pacific country is highly regarded for its high quality and clean growing conditions, and its kiwifruit and apples in particular are well known and regarded in European markets.
Kiwifruit
Kiwifruit dominates the country’s fresh fruit offer. It accounts for a 65.9 per cent volume share of exports, of which 35 per cent is shipped to Europe markets and 53 per cent to Asia.
In 2024, kiwifruit volume was 41 per cent up year on year at 784,785 tonnes and worth US$2.01bn. In the past ten years, its growth trend has impressed, with compound annual growth of 5 per cent.
And with an approximately 40 per cent share of the global trade, the country remains the world’s largest exporter of kiwifruit.
Apples
Kiwifruit was not always New Zealand’s top horticultural export, of course. Until it overtook them in 2006, apples were traditionally its major export line. But the country is definitely still a major player in apples, and the fruit still accounts for 32 per cent of fresh fruit exports.
Last year, apples sales to foreign markets were 9.4 per cent higher at 376,089 tonnes. But in the longer term, the trajectory for apple export growth is flat.
Around 16 per cent of New Zealand’s apple exports go to European markets, while 68 per cent go to Asian markets including Vietnam, China and Taiwan.
New Zealand’s share of the international apple trade is only around 5 per cent, and its share among Southern Hemisphere apple exporters is 22 per cent.
Avocados
Sales of avocados, now New Zealand’s third-largest export fruit crop, were up 66 per cent in the past year to 16,723 tonnes – mainly due to fluctuating demand from Australia. That trade should return to normal levels this season after falling over 80 per cent in 2024. Over the past five years, Australia has accounted for around 75 per cent of New Zealand’s avocado exports. The remainder are exported to countries in Asia, including South Korea and Thailand.
Cherries
New Zealand’s developing cherry business saw a marginally smaller crop of 4,435 tonnes in 2024. Almost all of it was exported to Asian markets during December and January. But in reality, New Zealand is a very small player in the global cherry trade, which topped 800,000 tonnes in 2023/24.
Blueberries
Rounding out the country’s top five fruit exports, New Zealand blueberries increased 60 per cent to 1,866 tonnes last year. These were mostly exported to Australia (91 per cent) and Asia between October and April.
