United Fresh partners with Plant & Food Research on annual New Zealand horticulture statistical handbook
New Zealand’s fresh fruit and vegetable exports will reach NZ$4.3bn in 2024, an increase of 8 per cent on 2023. New Zealanders ate over NZ$1bn worth of potatoes in 2023, Taiwan is consuming more than $44mn worth of New Zealand cherries, and Royal Gala apples are the nation’s most popular apple export variety, comprising almost 22 per cent of apple exports.
These are just some of the key insights revealed in this year’s Fresh Facts 2024 report produced by United Fresh which represents New Zealand’s pan-produce sector.
It is the second edition under United Fresh’s stewardship, now in partnership with Plant & Food Research, which previously presented the report alongside Horticulture New Zealand.
United Fresh general manager, Paula Dudley, said Fresh Facts 2024 contains critical data and insights to enable New Zealand’s fresh produce industry to thrive.
“As a key player in the fresh produce sector, we hold a collective responsibility to generate measurable, timely, intelligent and accurate data,” Dudley said. “This data is vital to helping both our industry and its partners plan, foster and grow domestic and export value chains efficiently.”
The report contains detailed statistics on the different fruit and vegetable sectors. It analyses volume, export markets and value over the past five years and pinpoints emerging trends. There is also a breakdown of the domestic fresh produce supply chain including a retail and wholesale sector overview.
The industry’s own reporting on sustainability has been measured for the first time, and concerns raised in Fresh Facts 2024 that not enough organisations understand the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Last year United Fresh produced guidelines for New Zealand’s fresh produce businesses and organisations to start contributing towards achieving the 17 SDGs which have been adopted by the New Zealand government. An analysis of annual reports across the industry shows 84 per cent mention sustainability but only 20 per cent mention SDGs specifically and only 2 per cent have adopted an SDG framework.
