New Zealand agribusiness group Turners & Growers (T&G) has said it is exploring expansion into new product lines where it feels it can establish a significant market presence.

T&G CEO Geoff Hipkins said the move was part of a strategic review spurred on by new majority shareholder Baywa, reported Fresh Fruit Portal. The review aims to clarify the company’s key product and market focuses.

“Part of our strategic review will focus on other product categories where potentially we can create a situation of dominance, so we are looking outside of that core apple and kiwifruit focus as well,” he said.

“We have a couple of candidates but obviously we need to get a foundation in place so that when we do move on some of these strategic initiatives, we can actually turn them into reality, in opposed to just something on paper.”

Hipkins said there were still opportunities to explore in the UK and Europe, and that growing middle classes in India and China made them key developing markets for T&G.

Baywa’s new vision for the company is solidifying with the appointment of a new executive team. The German agribusiness group announced earlier this week it had appointed Baywa board member Josef Krapf as a T&G director. Further executive appointments will be finalised within six weeks, according to Hipkins.