That is why the company is focusing on golden kiwis - "market research shows consumers like them more than the green variety. The feedback for the new Zespri G3 (SunGold) variety are all positive and the markets are requesting more volumes. We can currently cover the entire year and are doing better than our competitors."
Callum Kay, Zespri global technical and development manager, at Macfrut.
Despite being appreciated, though, golden kiwis are still not as popular as they could be, that is why Zespri is focusing on promoting them. "We reinvest a lot of our earnings on marketing and on specific campaigns for each retailer. We need to attract the attention of consumers, because they are all different and therefore packaging needs to be different."
Callum Kay, Zespri global technical and development manager, at Macfrut.
Despite being appreciated, though, golden kiwis are still not as popular as they could be, that is why Zespri is focusing on promoting them. "We reinvest a lot of our earnings on marketing and on specific campaigns for each retailer. We need to attract the attention of consumers, because they are all different and therefore packaging needs to be different."
"What is more, no country is the same. In Benelux, for example, we focus a lot on children, as they will be our future consumers. In France we invest a lot on TV commercials, posters, shopping bags and tastings. In Germany, where people like green Haywards, we need to promote our product even outside the shops."
A moment during the Zespri convention.
"The market is quite strong in Italy - people know their fruit and there are many brands they can choose from, that is why only 43% of people know our brand. Only France has a lower percentage (41%)."
Zespri advertisement in Italy.
But what about the future? Zespri is planning on "only growing what the market wants, which would mean red kiwis. We are currently studying them and they will be more popular in the next 3-4 years. Trees are quite difficult to grow because they are very susceptible to disease, just like golden kiwis." As with the other Zespri varieties, these kiwis are only produced through crossbreeds and no genetic modifications.
Edible skin, easy peel and kiwiberries will also be more popular in the future.
There is also research being done into orange kiwis, ones with a high vitamin C content, ones with edible skin, easy peel kiwis and kiwiberries.
Though China might pose a problem in the future. All producer countries are planting more trees - Italy, Chile, Greece, New Zealand and even Spain and Portugal. All of them export to China, especially considering the great demand. At the moment, China has 120 thousand hectares of kiwi orchards, "i.e. 10 times the area covered in New Zealand, and only 30-40% are currently active. In ten years' time, the Chinese will double their volumes. What will happen when they will start exporting?"