New Zealand exporter Turners & Growers (T&G) has rolled out global plans for its trademarked ENZARed kiwifruit variety, which it has tipped to become the premium kiwifruit variety for international consumers.
ENZARed, billed as the world's first commercialised red kiwifruit variety, offers a striking red starburst centre, exotic flavour and creamy texture, which T&G says make it 'the most exciting new variety to hit international markets since gold kiwifruit more than a decade ago'.
T&G owns the global intellectual property rights to the new variety, which will allow it to set up growing hubs for ENZARed in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and therefore ensure year-round supply to international supermarkets.
T&G chief executive Jeff Wesley, who recently returned from visiting ENZARed production projects in Italy, France and China, said the variety's unique taste was suitable for a number of important markets.
'ENZARed's unique taste suits the Asian palate and the European market where it sold last year at a 17 per cent premium to gold kiwifruit,' he said.
China is now in its third season of commercial production of ENZARed and domestic demand for the fruit is so strong that export volumes of the fruit have been limited.
At the company's ENZARed Kiwi Project at Dujiangjan in China's Sichuan province, T&G is providing technical support and expertise to assist local growers to adopt and implement best practice growing techniques to produce fruit to the highest global standards.
In Italy, meanwhile, the group is growing several thousand ENZARed plants to establish large orchards in both Italy and France.
By 2012, the company expects to have around 100ha of ENZARed growing in the two countries, boosting supply to the European market during Europe's winter.
'During our visit we were able to see the first ENZARed fruit produced on grafted vines in Italy and are extremely pleased with the fruit's development in Italy's growing conditions,' Mr Wesley commented.
T&G also revealed it was working to establish New Zealand as the Southern Hemisphere's growing hub for ENZARed.
The company has a major propagation project underway at its research facility in Kerikeri to produce plants and grafting material for next year, when it plans to graft several thousand ENZARed plants.
According to Mr Wesley, the potential size of the market for ENZARed grown and exported from New Zealand is similar to gold kiwifruit, which currently earns over NZ$250m annually for the New Zealand kiwifruit industry.
'The global market for this premium new variety is extremely strong,' he said. 'It is the type of rare 'breakthrough' product that becomes the new benchmark in its category for supermarkets and consumers around the world,' he suggested.
'We are very proud that, as the New Zealand Company that named the 'kiwifruit' back in 1959, we are leading the market with this red 'star' of the global kiwifruit industry in 2010,' he said.
This Tuesday, 15 June, marks the 51st anniversary of Turners & Growers coining the name 'kiwifruit' in 1959, when the company was establishing an export market for New Zealand-grown Chinese gooseberries in the US.
The company recently began a high-profile billboard campaign to highlight its calls for a review of New Zealand's Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999, which prevent it and other owners of new kiwifruit varieties from marketing their fruit independently in the vast majority overseas markets.
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