Bay avocado growers face grim season

Some Bay of Plenty avocado growers could be receiving as little as $2 a tray for fruit which last season earned them up to $20.

That's the prediction of grower, packer and industry stalwart Hugh Moore of Katikati.

"Some New Zealand exporters are still shipping fruit to Australia without a market for it to go to and in Australia, at the wholesale level, they are disposing of skip bins full of over-ripe fruit.

"The result is some growers will be getting either a nil return or a bill, or between $2 and $4 a tray when they had hoped for at least $15 this season, given it was a big crop year," said Mr Moore, a former chairman of the Avocado Growers Association, who has been in the fruit growing industry for more than 35 years.

Mr Moore said while the industry's major exporters who sold direct to retail were expected to return between $10 and $11 to growers, exporters with no retail markets were struggling to achieve any returns at all.

"Many growers don't know this is coming because their exporters aren't telling them. It will not be a Merry Christmas, nor a Happy New Year for them."

John Schnackenberg, chairman Avocado Industry Council and of the Avocado Growers Association agrees with Mr Moore's predictions but said because the industry expected to export around twice as much fruit as last year, growers would not be so hard hit.

"We expect to export 3.5 million trays which is about twice as much as last year so returns to the economy will still be significant," he said.

This season has produced the biggest New Zealand crop ever, estimated at a total of 5.9 million trays (both export and local market), compared to the previous largest crop of 4.2 million in 2007-08, and just over 3 million trays last year.

"Around 65 per cent of growers will get returns in double figures but around a third will get less than that and some may get a bill," said Mr Schnackenberg.

Growers yet to harvest, should be asking exporters if they had a market for fruit before picking. "Growers own the fruit right up until the point of sale and they have the right to ask exporters where it is going and what returns are likely to be."

Avocados keep well on the tree and fruit doesn't have to be harvested all at once.

"The industry has been giving growers this message for some time but unfortunately some growers have not been paying attention.

"They should be asking questions. We are also communicating with exporters," he said.

The most exposed exporters were those who did not have links with retailers in Australia or other markets, such as Japan, Asia or America, to send fruit to.

Mr Moore said growers needed to take back control of their industry and demand better from poorly performing exporters.

"What we are seeing is a repeat of the exporting disaster which hit the kiwifruit industry in 1987 and led to the formation of the marketing board and ultimately Zespri.

"I don't see the avocado industry getting a marketing board but growers need to demand more co-operation between exporters and more transparency about what's happening in the markets," he said.

The season got away to a bad start when the Australian industry under-estimated its crop volumes and New Zealand fruit arrived before local fruit had exited the market.

Mr Moore said exporters who shipped fruit without a market for it were irresponsible.