As the final shipment of New Zealand kiwifruit is sold in the UK Europe, Zespri International Ltd says it has had its most successful season to date. The ship Comoros Stream unloaded in the port of Tilbury on October 29.

The marketer recorded a 10 per cent increase in sales, selling a total of 41.7 million trays and drawing revenue of more than 220m euros.

A significant volume of the increase will be attributed to sales of Zespri's Gold kiwifruit, launched to the UK last season. The company said a full package of marketing concepts, tastings, attractive pricing and promotional activity all contributed to the rise.

Zespri now markets three products, the established Hayward variety, now called Zespri Green, an organically produced version, the Zespri Green Organic and the Gold.

According to Zespri, this season's crop profile closely matched market requirements well.

Zespri said its main challenge during the season was to consolidate on its progress with Gold. It supported the product with an intensified pr and promotional campaign to season's end by mid-October.

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