The Port of Napier in New Zealand reports that some 8 million cartons have been shipped so far this year. This is 2.1m cartons down on the same point in the season last year, although the expectation when spring frosts struck that volumes would be considerably lower than last season's relatively high-volume year.

And NZ press reports quote the NZ Fruitgrowers' Association expecting a further 500,000 cartons to be exported before season's end.

Braeburn appears to have suffered most at the hands of September and October's frosts and will probably finish the season on 2.55m cartons, 15 per cent down on the hoped-for 3m carton packout.

Royal Gala may have fared better in volume terms, according to the NZ Herald, but fruit sizes are smaller than average. And the small size profile has been causing problems on both US and continental European markets where it has been dragging prices down.