Good fruit ups payments

Zespri is forecasting increased payments totalling $944.9 million to growers, up $23.2 million on its previous forecast, thanks to good fruit quality.

Green growers can expect an increase of 16 cents a tray to $7.04 and growers of Zespri Gold should receive 36 cents more at $11.83 per tray.

Green organic average returns are forecast to be up by 5 cents, to $8.67 per tray, mainly because of lower costs.

Chief Financial Officer Merv Dallas said offshore fruit loss decreased from 2.8 per cent to 2.2 per cent as fruit quality turned out better than the early forecast.

"Following a tidy season close out with lower fruit loss, we are forecasting increases in all of the pool returns," he said.

The February forecast reflects a 3 per cent increase to total fruit and service payments for the 2011/12 season, up from the December forecast.

The gold fruit forecast lifted because of higher returns than anticipated in China and stronger end-of-season pricing in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

When compared with last year, average orchard gate returns on a per hectare basis are $32,362 for green (up 0.4 per cent), $34,664 for green organic (down 7.7 per cent), and $90,171 for gold (up 7.6 per cent).

Zespri's net profit range has been revised upwards from the $7-10 million announced in October to $15-18 million for the 2011/12 season.

The net profit for 2010/11 was $7.3 million.

Zespri Green growers will receive a progress payment this month of 35 cents per tray, green organic growers will be paid 37 cents and Zespri Gold and Gold organic growers will get 76 cents.

The company has said progress payments had been calculated to ensure cash was returned to the grower as quickly and fairly as possible.