"It has been a really good growing season for us, we have had long hot summers for the last two years, which is very good from a fruit growing perspective as it translates into great tasting fruit, we had a little more rain this year which has given the fruit that boost in size and quality. Growers are putting a lot effort into taste, they appreciate that with any new product on the market the emphasis is on taste," said Simon.
The green kiwi volumes are down slightly on last year at around 65 million trays, that is due to the number of growers who have transitioned into the gold varieties to diversify their portfolios, according to Limmer.
"Again it is a good looking crop, sizes are good which means we can allocate the fruit quite strategically in to the different markets, we could probably do with a little more fruit, we are certainly under supplied where the gold varieties are concerned and the supply of green is on the limit of demand."
Limmer said that any expansion of green orchards would be up to the individual growers, but the returns on green kiwis has certainly improved in the last couple of years despite the strong NZ dollar, he puts this down to good quality Zespri's ability to place the fruit in better performing markets and actions right across the supply chain – growers delivering fruit that the markets want, the lowest onshore fruit loss ever recorded for Green, strong postharvest performance and tailored marketing strategies in each of the 54 countries where we sell our fruit. "We will see what happens this season as the Chilean kiwis have been affected by frost and there will be a shortage in the market.
Gold has good potential in the markets, Asia has been a more gold orientated market due to the sweetness of the fruit, but it's steadily becoming more popular in Europe too and Simon reckons they will see a more balanced demand from Europe in the future. "We are in the process of rebuilding the gold volumes and we can already see that it will be possible to significantly increase these in the next couple of years, so we are looking for new gold markets, such as Europe, but also Brazil, the Middle East and SE Asia, China is already strong but will continue to grow."
The first kiwis will arrive in Asia around the end of April and in Europe in May.
Regarding the duopoly proposal by the China New Zealand Kiwifruit Investment Company, Limmer said, "the industry has gone through a bit of a roller coaster ride, with orchard values dropping due to Psa in the last few years, many growers have had a very rough time, but optimism has returned to the industry over the last twelve months, orchard equity has returned in some cases to pre-Psa values, market returns have also retuned, there is a real feeling of optimism. The majority of growers are still supportive of the structure of the kiwi industry but there are individuals within the industry, or outside the industry, who are looking to see how they can take advantage of the situation for their own profit, this is inevitable but at the end of the the day it is up to growers to decide how they want their industry to be structured and it is not up to Zespri."
Zespri has a substantial breeding program which has been a pillar to the industry and we are now seeing a lot of the benefits emerging with new varieties, red and gold, but a skinless kiwi?
"Zespri has thousands of new varieties in our concept port folios and we all realise the importance of convenience these days, it's a matter of ensuring that a product is viable. A skinless variety is possibly a bit away but we are working on it."
For more information:
Rachel Lynch
Zespri
Tel: +64 27 509 1805
Email: rachel.lynch@zespri.com