New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry remains on a slow but steady recovery path from the Psa vine-killing disease, according to Neil Trebilco, president of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc.
Trebilco said that green growers were now asking up to NZ$250,000 per hectare at auction for full-producing green orchards, and over NZ$300,000 per hectare for gold plots, reflecting higher values than prior to the Psa outbreak.
Simon Anderson, manager of Bayleys Country Bay of Plenty, echoed these claims, suggesting orchard prices in the Bay of Plenty region had lifted 30 per cent over 2014.
However, Trebilco was quick to add that many producers remained saddled with significant financial burdens.
“There are growers that have been through a tough time with Psa and their financial situation has gone backwards,” Trebilco told the Bay of Plenty Times. “So they are in a situation where they still have to recover with quite a number catching up … people have incurred expenses without offsetting it off their income so those guys have to recover that.”
While Trebilco sympathised with growers going through economic hardship, he said that there was an enormous sense of optimism growing throughout the sector. “Across the industry as a whole growers are very confident about the future despite Psa,” he explained.
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