Deal heralds leaner industry

Stuart Weston

The expected merger next month of post-harvest companies Apata and Aerocool is the latest phase in the major restructuring the kiwifruit industry has undergone in response to Psa.

Following the merger of EastPack and Satara earlier in the year, the latest amalgamation indicates companies are taking advantage of the downturn to increase efficiencies and position themselves for expanded volumes over the next couple of years.

"The pressure on the post-harvest sector at the moment has probably not been this intense since the early 1990s," said Apata managing director Stuart Weston.

Neil Trebilco, president of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers, said: "The mergers are defensive to some degree. But companies are also thinking about the future, when we expect kiwifruit gold volumes to rapidly increase."

Mr Trebilco said that, while Psa had been difficult, it was likely to make the industry leaner and meaner. "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Because of reducing volumes, post-harvest companies have been competing hard with each other for crop. They have to cut their own costs to make it work."

Aerocool general manager Tim Woodward agreed price competition had been intense. "To get economies of scale, we need to consolidate," he said.

Volumes of New Zealand kiwifruit sold went down to 98.7 million trays in 2012-13 from 105.9 million in 2011-12, according to Zespri figures. Sales of the gold varieties, which can provide a return to growers of at least three times that of green varieties, also dropped to 24.6 million trays from 29.1 million.

The drop in gold kiwifruit reflected the major shift from the Psa-devastated Gold Hort16A variety to Gold3. A total of 2320 hectares of Gold3 was licensed in 2012-13, including the grafting over of around 1860ha from Gold Hort16A to Gold3 in 2012. Psa has also prompted growers of unaffected green varieties to graft across to Gold3.

Apata's Mr Weston described the consolidation as defensive and expansive. "Volumes will be down next year but there is a very large volume of Gold3 coming on stream over the next few years. We need to be in a position from a capital and capacity point of view to cater to that."

Mr Trebilco said the scale of the switch to Gold 3 was unprecedented, with up to 50 million trays eventually expected.

Further consolidation is likely among the handful of smaller post-harvest companies.