New Zealand season wraps up record crop of 810,000 tonnes
Zespri’s final charter shipment of the 2026 New Zealand kiwifruit season has departed the Port of Tauranga bound for Shanghai.
The vessel, Whero, is carrying more than 1.7mn trays, or 6,120 tonnes of Zespri SunGold kiwifruit for consumers in China. It’s Zespri’s 57th charter vessel this season, which have helped move a record crop of around 225mn trays (810,000 tonnes). The final container shipments are expected to depart New Zealand in the coming weeks.
CEO Jason Te Brake said the sailing of the Whero marks an important milestone as the industry enters the final stages of the New Zealand season.
“The departure of our final charter is an opportunity to recognise the significant effort from growers, post-harvest, logistics partners and our teams around the world to deliver another large crop to consumers in more than 50 markets,” said Te Brake.
“Sales have been encouraging in Europe, while North America continues to perform well. In Greater China, our in-market teams worked hard to capitalise on the recent Mid-Autumn Festival where we saw strong sales, with fruit from the Whero due to arrive in market in the coming weeks.
“Despite a more challenging global trading environment and a more competitive fruit category, demand for Zespri kiwifruit has remained strong across many of our key markets, helping deliver strong value back to growers and shareholders.
“The strong demand we’ve seen this season reflects the value consumers are placing on high-quality, nutritious fruit and the efforts of our teams and partners across the supply chain. It has also been supported by the rollout of our new global brand platform, Grown for Good, across our core markets, which champions natural nutrition and the role fruit can play in supporting healthier lives.”
With the New Zealand season drawing to a close, Zespri’s focus is turning to ensuring a smooth transition to its Northern Hemisphere-grown fruit and preparing for the 2027 season.
“We’re expecting around 36mn trays (129,000 tonnes) from our Northern Hemisphere growing regions this season. This includes 28mn trays (more than 100,800 tonnes) of Zespri SunGold and a further 8mn trays (28,800 tonnes) of Zespri Green kiwifruit, with the transition to our Northern Hemisphere SunGold fruit getting underway in Europe in the coming weeks week,” said Te Brake.
“Working with our Northern Hemisphere partners to provide our consumers with 12-month supply is a key part of our strategy for maximising long-term value back to growers.”
