Lewis Pan, Zespri's manager in China with Simon Limmer - COO, Oliver Broad - Communications Manager and Peter M'Bride - Chairman.
The new SunGold variety has been a big hit in Asia with both the colour and sweet flavour appealing to consumers. Europeans are also responding positively to the new gold variety, "We are very exited about its potential growth. It has a flavour mix which is very appealing for both Asian and European palates, but the green variety is also performing very well across all markets as we focus hard on taste and quality here to."
In 2011 Psa decimated 70% of New Zealand's gold kiwi production, at that time Zespri had a 70/30 green to gold ratio. The bulk of the 30m trays of gold production was lost, with only 11m trays produced that year, according to Limmer, Zespri is now back to 20m trays this year and growth recovery is progressing very well.
"In the future we will have a 50-50 balance between green and gold, it may take 3-4 years to get there but recovery is happening very quickly. We think a good balance is the right thing to do. The gold variety has certainly driven a lot of value for the growers over the last 10 years and is poised to continue strongly in coming years."
40% of Zespri's total grower base was growing gold in 2010 compared to 60% now, this is quite a substantial shift. Limmer explains that it is good to have a balanced portfolio both from an orchard management point of view, de-risking it from for example, Psa, it also lessens the commercial risk.
A 12 month supply is one of the main strategies for Zespri, "We are reasonably well established in Italy, France, Japan and Korea. All of which had their own issues with Psa and are going through the recovery process, but we are very exited about those countries as potential supply areas. China is producing around half the world's kiwi fruit at the moment, around 1.3 m tons, which it consumes domestically. Its only a matter of time as quality standards and management practises improve and varieties come to the fore, before it becomes a more premium product for the Chinese market and potentially beyond the Chinese shores. We are very focussed on that and working to see what it could mean for us in the future, but may be a few years away yet."
Limmer goes on to say that they are looking at opportunities for growth, especially with gold volumes increasing. He expects that because China is so exiting it could take a lot of their focus. Although all of Zespri's markets are growing quite strongly and will continue to do so over the next few years, South America is also growing especially Brazil, where there is huge potential and the kiwi is well adapted for this market.
Other growth markets include South East Asia really where Zespri are seeing a good growth from a low base. India has big opportunities given the population, difficult logistics, infrastructure and retail environment. Zespri are currently doing small amounts there with a commercial arrangement which is working well according to Limmer. "There are lots of exiting big places with potential, we are poised for the next few years of strong growth and investment is going on."