Strong international demand for New Zealand apples appears to be outpacing supply this season.

Paul Paynter, general manager of Hawkes Bay-based grower-packer-marketer Yummy Fruit Company, says his company hasn’t experienced any pressure on pricing, with a shorter than anticipated production volume the only obstacle for sales programmes.

“We knew the crop would be down on last year, with early indications suggesting around a 10 per cent drop, but in reality it’s probably closer to 20 per cent,” Paynter says. “It’s still a decent crop, it just a shame we won’t be able to keep taking advantage of this very high demand for our fruit.”

While volume may be down, Paynter said fruit sizing and quality remained exceptional, with Yummy fielding particularly strong interest from markets such as Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.

The New Zealand industry has also had Chinese market access reinstated, although Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive Alan Pollard warned export volumes to the People’s Republic are likely to fall this season. New Zealand exported over 9,500 tonnes of apples to China last year.

“Harvest was already underway for some growers when we reached the agreement with the Chinese officials in February,” Pollard said. “This means this early-season fruit had already been allocated to markets elsewhere, and while we are confident trade into China will pick-up we probably won’t reach the same levels this season as last season.”

New Zealand voluntarily ceased direct exports to China at the tail end of last season, after Chinese quarantine officials discovered rot, caused by the fungus Neofabraea alba, in a small number of consignments.

Under the conditions of the new protocol, sample testing for rot will be performed on a cross section of the fruit earmarked for Chinese entry. While Pollard admitted this would add time and cost to the export process, he considered the protocol “workable.”

“At the end of the day it’s a pragmatic solution so I take my hat of to the authorities who have worked on it in both countries,” Pollard explained.“It means we can maintain traction in China, a market we see enormous potential in as we build towards our goal of becoming a NZ$1bn industry within the next 10 years.”

Pollard agreed there had been a high degree of demand for New Zealand pipfruit over the early stages of the season, with prices “holding up strongly.”He estimated export volumes would fall from 320,000 tonnes in 2013 to 303,000 tonnes this year as a result of biannual cropping.

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