Producer organisation to pursue collaborative trade marketing deal with UAE customers, working with Zespri and Mr Apple to supply New Zealand-grown fruit
Māori kiwifruit growers have agreed to pursue a new export partnership with customers in the UAE, as part of a landmark agreement that puts them “on the world stage”.
As reported in the NZ Herald, the company Māori Kiwifruit Growers (MGKI) – which represents around 50 producers and over 70 individual orchards – is working with fruit exporters Zespri and Mr Apple to supply kiwifruit NZ-grown to Emirati clients.
The announcement came as the Māori Queen, Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po VIII, led a trade delegation to Dubai last week, and follows the inclusion of support for Māori trade in a recently applied NZ-UAE economic agreement.
“This partnership places Māori kiwifruit growers on the world stage,” MKGI chairman Geoff Rolleston told the newspaper. “It’s about collaborating to create long-term relationships and intergenerational prosperity.”
Earlier this year, MKGI confirmed it had ten containers of kiwifruit en route to the UAE under a so-called collaborative marketing export programme with single-desk exporter Zespri, which otherwise has full control over all New Zealand’s kiwifruit exports.
Similar agreements for Māori kiwifruit exporters could soon be announced in other Gulf markets, Asia, and North America.
“Our goals are ambitious but clear: to increase Māori participation and market share in premium kiwifruit exports, and to double our export presence in markets like the UAE within the next decade,” Rolleston added.
