As New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri draws closer to announcing the commercial future of four new varieties currently in trials, the kiwifruit sector is considering what the new strains may mean for the industry both in New Zealand and globally.
Zespri's decision is due in June, and in the running for full commercialisation are an early sweet green, an early gold, and two long-storing gold varieties.
The new gold varieties in particular have drawn interest from the industry. All three are free from the ‘beak' characteristic of the current Zespri Gold variety, a flat peak at the end of the fruit that causes significant difficulties during handling and packing.
That fact alone has engendered them to both growers and packers, as has the potential extension to either end of the season the new varieties may bring the industry.
'The long-storing gold should give us another eight to 10 weeks in the market,' explains Zespri CEO Lain Jager.
Zespri, meanwhile, has been examining whether the Zespri Gold beak is noticed or significant to consumers, and what change in marketing a beakless gold will require.
One of the largest questions for the new gold varieties and G14 - the new sweet, early green variety - has been one of branding.
'We're going to have to call `the new late golds` ‘Zespri Sun Gold' or something,' Mr Jager explains. 'We'll use a master-branding family strategy, so it will be Zespri, then Gold, then some sort of distinction within the Gold family. Because we can't just pretend it's the same when it's not the same.'
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