The first kiwifruit of the New Zealand season are coming off the vine this week, as picking kicks off in the early Poverty Bay region.
Single-desk marketer Zespri said the first shipment of Gold kiwifruit, which starts picking earlier than the green Hayward variety, should hit the water in early April and will land in Japan halfway through that month.
This season’s overall kiwifruit export volume from New Zealand will be down on last year, according to Zespri’s supply chain general manager Sally Gardiner, but it will be higher than early-season forecasts predicted.
“2011 produced a record crop for the industry of around 115m trays, an increase of 12 per cent on the 2010 season,” Gardiner said in a statement today.
“In 2012, we expect that due to Psa and seasonal factors the crop will be around 95m trays, which is closer to the production of a more normal season.”
Zespri’s key Gold cultivar, Hort16A, has been the worst affected by Psa, but the variety is still expected to contribute about 20m trays to the marketer’s total export figures this year.
Green kiwifruit will hit about 70m trays, and organic kiwifruit will be around 3.5m trays.
New varieties rising
Importantly, Zespri’s new varieties, those commercialised in 2010, will now account for around 2m trays of export fruit.
“What is really exciting is seeing new variety volumes increase,” says Gardiner. “The kiwifruit industry has identified one of these varieties, known as Gold3, as the potential future foundation for our gold kiwifruit category in a Psa environment.
“This year we will have up to 1m trays of Gold3 and it will allow us to continue to build the profile of this fruit with our customers around the world and also increase our understanding of the fruit’s performance throughout the Zespri supply chain.”
Zespri will make a decision this Wednesday (21 March) on a potential wide-scale release of Gold3 licences to growers. The variety has shown good resistance to Psa, and is currently considered the keystone of New Zealand’s recovery pathway from the disease.
The remainder of Zespri’s forecast 2m trays of new varieties will be made up of Gold9 and Green14. Zespri will also continue small-volume market trials of several red-fleshed varieties, which could be released for commercialisation as early as June this year.
On the ground
China will be getting special attention from New Zealand this week, with the visit from the country’s Trade Minister Tim Groser.
Groser will travel to Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing with a delegation of 17 New Zealand trade representatives, including a representative from Zespri.
The trade minister’s schedule includes speeches at the Beijing University of International Business and Economics, a meeting with Chinese counterpart Chen Deming, networking events and product launches.
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