The 2026/27 New Zealand kiwifruit season has started well, with the industry making good progress with harvest, supporting a fast start with another large crop of around 220 million trays to sell.
"We released our initial guidance in March, which reflects positive demand for our fruit, with quality shaping up well. Despite heightened geopolitical uncertainty from the ongoing tension in the Middle East, our shipping programme is underway, and fruit is moving steadily into the market, with fruit to Europe shipped via the Panama Canal," said Jason Te Brake, CEO.
© Zespri International Limited
RubyRed well underway
Zespri's focus has been getting its sales season off to a strong start with the RubyRed sales programme, with more than 50 per cent of that crop now sold. "We have more than five million trays of RubyRed available for consumers across 16 markets this season. RubyRed is in its fifth year of commercial production."
RubyRed volumes are up from around three million trays last year, and Zespri's sales programmes have extended to include Australia, Vietnam, and Canada for the first time.
© Zespri International Limited
"We're also expanding our presence in the U.S., with volume tripling compared to last season.
Feedback from our customers in Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan in the past couple of weeks on this season's size, colour, and quality has been extremely positive. With fruit selling really well, we're likely to be close to sold out in the next two weeks. This reinforces our strong confidence in the demand for our RubyRed Kiwifruit."
Other RubyRed markets include Singapore, Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Zespri is set to be able to provide customers and consumers in Europe with the red-fleshed Zespri Red variety, with the commercialisation of 170 hectares of red approved in Italy over the next two years.
© Zespri International Limited
Early SunGold quality encouraging
With Zespri SunGold, growing conditions have been generally favourable this season with good fruit development. Around 45 per cent of SunGold - approximately 68 million trays - is now packed. Sales are underway across the key markets, including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, and Malaysia, and the first European and North American vessels are due to arrive shortly.
"Early season SunGold quality has been encouraging, and the focus remains on maintaining that through the season. We're expecting around 58 million trays of Zespri Green this season, and our focus is on delivering high quality. Green is still in the early phase of the season, with nearly seven million trays packed, accounting for around 12% of our total season plan. Around two million trays have been shipped."
For more information:
Anna Cross
Zespri International Limited
[email protected]
www.zespri.com
