New Zealand’s apple industry has grubbed around 10 per cent of its orchard area since the end of the last harvest, but chairman of Pipfruit NZ Ian Palmer believes it is still not enough to bring the sector into line with market demand.
Palmer recently warned the industry that large-scale removal of trees of bi-coloured varieties was necessary if NZ is to manage its export volume effectively and return to profitability after a number of difficult seasons.
He told a reception at this week’s PMA, in Atlanta: “We need to work smarter, improve our understanding of our markets around the world and build lasting relationships.”
The NZ industry needs to protect its premium position by concentrating on its core values and strengths and “take the competition head-on”, he added.
The country’s integrated fruit production programme is “world-leading” in its efforts to reduce pesticide application on apples to a minimum, Palmer claimed, adding: “I believe we will be the first country to offer the consumer pesticide-free product.”
Increased internal co-operation is top of the priority list in NZ, he said, in response to extensive research of the global customer base. A new plan for the industry will be unveiled at an NZ conference in January 2006. “We have been too low key and it hasn’t done us any favours - but we do not believe that any other apple producing nation is as well positioned as we are now to rethink the category,” Palmer said.
Meanwhile, John Paynter, a former Enza director and owner of the Yummy Fruit Company has told the NZ press he fears the industry may never recover from the poor returns from Europe. “For the first time ever there’s an element of growers who have lost hope that next year or any other year will be any better,” he told Rural News. He said there is a deep chain of debt running through the industry and southern-hemisphere producers, including New Zealand, just pushed too much fruit into Europe and turned away from other markets.
Paynter said bringing low Braeburn prices back up will be “very difficult if not impossible”
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