Green kiwifruit growers face another harrowing season after global marketer Zespri International indicated their returns were likely to fall by 10c a tray. In its first forecast for the present selling season, Zespri said green growers would receive $6.88 compared with the $6.98 final payment for the 2008/09 year. Green organic isexpected to fall further, down 46c to $8.81 ($9.27 for 2008/09). But it's brighter news for gold kiwifruit, which is popular in Japan and Europe and is continuing to attract premium prices. Zespri has forecast gold will increase by $1.97 to $11.67 per tray, compared with $9.70 for 2008/09. Lain Jager, Zespri chief executive, said the green market was not getting any easier. "Once we take into account increased post-harvest and other costs and a lower yield, it's another tough year for green growers. "But there is a viable business into the future. We are strongly focussed on driving value back into this business over the next five years." Mr Jager said Zespri would continue to grow green demand strongly, while developing the product mix to take the supply pressure off green. "This includes increasing gold volumes and introducing new cultivars to complement our existing product portfolio," he said.
Positive contributions from pricing, foreign exchange and a reduction in costs (particularly fuel) had contributed to the $1.97 per tray increase. Mr Jager said volumes for all categories continued to track at similar rates to the same time last year and a tidy finish to the season was anticipated. Overall, Zespri expects to make fruit and service payments of $804.7 million, up $25.7 million on last year. "It is important to look beyond the increase in total fruit and service payments because the story is very different for each category," Mr Jager said.
