This season’s substantial New Zealand apple crop coincides with the UK’s worst recession since World War II. But despite these challenging economic times, some exporters are hoping to make further gains in the UK this season. The market normally imports 50,000-60,000 tonnes of New Zealand apples each season and accounts for around 20 per cent of the export volumes.
Supporters have already described this season’s crop quality as being the best in 15 years and volumes are expected to come in at 284,000t.
“There is good colour and clean fruit, as well as superb taste, due to a good growing season,” says Peter Beaven, chief executive of growers’ association Pipfruit New Zealand. “Many New Zealand consumers have remarked on the quality of this season’s harvest.”
“Overall, we are looking at a very clean crop and also fruit quality is well above average,” agrees Alex Schenz of Freshmax.
Although it is still too early to predict the final crop size, two early season varieties - Cox Orange and Pacific Beauty - are down on original estimates. Cox Orange volumes may fall by as much as 15 per cent, although harvesting in the far south of the country is ongoing. Schenz says there will almost certainly be a reduction in the quantities shipped to the UK market this season.
But Cox aside, Beaven anticipates normal supplies to the UK for the majority of other apple varieties. He says: “Most apples from New Zealand are already programmed and full crops of Royal Gala, Braeburn, Jazz and Pink Lady will be supplied. I know that some retailers are looking to increase New Zealand Braeburn slightly, because of issues last year with fruit from other origins.”
Exporter Heartland intends to increase its sendings to the UK to approximately 4,000t this season. According to the company’s John McCliskie, Heartland has built a strong business in the UK and enjoys high demand. “We will look to satisfy that demand this year as we do not chase the best returning currencies each year,” he tells FPJ.
Although McCliskie acknowledges that currency values impact on grower returns, he says the group’s marketing decisions are based on demand from its long-term established customers.
“With the weak sterling (relative to the euro) and the strong US dollar, the cost to us of delivering fruit to the UK has increased this year, and we are hoping that we can recover some of that in higher revenues,” explains McCliskie. “But we are a long-term supplier to the UK market and we hope that over the long term, the cyclical nature of currencies will result in valued returns from this market.”
According to Schenz, exchange rates always have had, and always will have, a major impact on exports. “It can already be seen with other fruits that the weaker sterling has not enhanced imports to the UK and apples may not be excluded from this trend,” he tells FPJ. However, he argues that shifts in trade patterns are not triggered by exchange rates alone; therefore, it would be unjustified to link any changes just to currency.
Meanwhile, Beaven says that the sterling/New Zealand dollar exchange rate is quite similar to last year and he does not expect this to impact greatly on trade. He points out that, unlike the sterling against the euro, most southern hemisphere currencies have moved within a narrow band. “We expect UK retailers to take advantage of this and move to their southern hemisphere suppliers as soon as they can,” he reveals.
Royal Gala and Braeburn generally dominate exports to the UK but, in the future, these are expected to hold less sway as newer varieties come on stream in larger volumes. New Zealand growers have invested heavily in Jazz plantings and the first volumes are set to reach Europe at the beginning of May. Jazz volumes are expected to rise significantly this season compared to 2008, according to Enzafruit, which anticipates shipments of approximately 850,000 cartons to Europe. Plantings of the newer varieties Tentation and Sonja are also growing.
Furthermore, New Zealand-based top-fruit licensing firm Prevar Limited has several new products in the pipeline, some ready to be rolled out later this year and others over the next few years.
The firm has already unveiled apple varieties PremA17 and PremA153 in the last 12 months, and chief executive Dr Brett Ennis promises plenty more to come. In mid-March, Prevar announced a licensing agreement for another new apple - the fourth since its formation. The latest variety, T193, is another cross between Royal Gala and Braeburn and has been bred by HortResearch, which is now part of the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food research.
“Some new apple varieties coming through the New Zealand programme will be sampled this year and the future looks exciting,” says Beaven.
However, it is not just the New Zealand top-fruit sector that is firing on all cylinders.
When questioned whether the extension of the UK season will have any effect on New Zealand supplies, Schenz says that any new varieties such as Kanzi and Rubens need to find their place in the market and this will initially result in competition with fruit from the same hemisphere.
“Of course, some varieties are looking to extend the domestic sales window but, in our opinion, the season comes to a natural end as stored fruit from the last harvest soon needs to compete with fresh arrivals that provide better eating experiences and consumer acceptance,” Schenz adds.
McCliskie agrees that these new varieties will need time to find mainstream acceptance. “Our programmes to the UK are currently based on Cox, Gala and Braeburn and at this point we have not seen any impact from the newer varieties,” he says. “There is a large range of new varieties available, of which some are very good apples - however, we cannot afford to react too quickly to all these varieties that are still finding their market position.”
Heartland is looking towards the future and its new varietal programme includes a good range of apples including Royal Gala, Eve, Tentation and Ambrosia. Some specific organic varieties have also been made exclusive to the group. “These will be sampled in the UK this year to gain a perception of their market potential,” McCliskie tells FPJ.
Heartland growers are involved in an ongoing orchard redevelopment programme, which includes replacing older trees, along with plantings, in new blocks of land. The group has also invested more than NZ$4 million (£1.6m) in its packhouse and coolstore complex in recent years.
Furthermore, much time, money and resources have also been spent researching dry matter, to the point where Heartland now believes it is an invaluable tool for assisting in the production and delivery of a better eating apple. “It is critical for us to continue to innovate, whether it is through orchard production, post-harvest treatments or varietal developments,” McCliskie says.
New Zealand’s no-detectable residues project, Apple Futures, is also gathering pace. This programme, which is based on organic production systems, was introduced in 2007, when Pipfruit NZ entered into a partnership with Hawkes Bay Incorporated, Nelson EDA and Otago Forward. Apple Futures has already scored significant successes. “Already in year two, 50 per cent of apple production is being grown in this way,” Beaven tells FPJ. “We know from last year’s results that nearly all of the fruit in the programme is at, or below, the limits of detection.” Pipfruit NZ predicts that 90 per cent or more of New Zealand’s top fruit will be integrated into its Apple Futures programme by 2010.
When it comes to New Zealand top fruit, most of the attention is focused on apples, as pears make up only two per cent of the country’s top-fruit exports, and more than 50 per cent of that figure is shipped to the US. New Zealand’s main pear variety exports are Comice, Taylors Gold and Bosc. According to Beaven, there is a breeding programme for pears in New Zealand and he says some “very interesting” new varieties are being developed which could enable the country to export more in the future.
In terms of key markets for New Zealand, the Asian region will gain greater importance for apple exports. Schenz says this will happen in the next decade and Kiku New Zealand is focusing on developing sales in the region. The marketing consortium for Kiku, which consists of Applemax, Enza, DM Palmer and Pickmee, also plans to establish a year-round supply in the northern hemisphere.
As the sector in New Zealand gears up for the export deal, a number of interesting opportunities lie ahead.
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