Kiwifruit marketer Zespri will release fewer licences to grow the gold variety next season. Also, it won't release any for the Ruby-Red variety. The company stated that 250ha of Sungold kiwifruit license will be released in 2024, down from 350ha this year. The 250ha is just half what Zepsri signalled it would release in the 2023 outlook it published at the end of last year.
The amount of licence sold was expected to lift in the future. From 2026 through to 2028, Zespri's board has approved an indicative range of 350-500ha of Sungold Kiwifruit licence per year, subject to annual review. The company said no Ruby-Red licenses would be released because it needed to better understand the fruits performance including size, yields and storage.
Source: rnz.co.nz