Zespri has almost tripled the number of RubyRed kiwis it exported this season. As new orchards have been in production, the cooperative exported 330,000 trays of the red fruit to Japan, China, Singapore and Taiwan. Only 111,000 trays of the variety were exported to the same countries last year, with fruit quality issues plaguing growers of all variety of kiwifruit.
In April, the cooperative said growers of the new RubyRed kiwifruit variety might take a financial hit after unusually wet weather meant a lot of the fruit harvested from the new variety was too small for export. The red kiwifruit variety was naturally smaller than other kiwifruit varieties, but even smaller this season because of the unusually wet weather conditions and many young orchards that recently began carrying fruit.
Source: stuff.co.nz
