Zespri’s sales grew 16 per cent to NZ$1.57bn (US$1.16bn) in 2014/15, Zespri chairman Peter McBride told growers and shareholders at the Zespri annual meeting on 22 July.
In terms of volume, New Zealand kiwifruit sales grew 11 per cent to 95.2m trays, which is expected to grow to 130m trays over the next five years.
Zespri’s gold kiwifruit variety volumes are forecast to see steady growth, from 18.7m trays in 2014/15, to 30m trays next season, and more than 60m trays by 2019/20.
“SunGold has performed very successfully on the orchard, throughout the supply chain and in the market and we are continuing to build awareness of this new product with consumers and customers through world class marketing – growing demand ahead of the large volume increases coming on,” McBride said.
Non-gold volumes set to match that growth, with 2.5m trays in 2014/15 expected to reach 15m trays in 2019/20.
Global economic issues are likely to continue to impact grower returns, said Zespri CEO Lain Jager, with payments to growers reaching NZ$58.1m (US$38.45m) in 2014/15, though a strong sales performance and a shortage of supply from Chile pushed up per hectare returns.
“Orchard gate return per tray for green [kiwifruit] was up to $6.01 and reached the highest-ever average per hectare returns at NZ$53,884, due largely to sales performance, increasing average yields and a shortage of Chilean kiwifruit in the market due to severe frosts in Chile,” Jager said. “While Zespri is very positive about the outlook for delivering strong, sustainable returns to growers and shareholders, we note considerable headwinds weighing on future returns including the relative weakness of the euro and yen and recovery of Chilean volumes.”
