The increase in G3 volumes would not affect the pricing for Green fruit, which still dominates the market, and Gold fruit would still be expected to sell at a premium of 20 to 45 per cent to Green, he said.
Mr Jager said the industry was forecasting a harvest of about 30 million trays of Gold kiwifruit - 25 million of this G3, marketed as Zespri SunGold. This would surpass the previous high of 29 million trays sold in the 2011 season and nearly double last year's harvest.
"We are also looking forward to another great Green crop this year, with more than 70 million class 1 trays," he said.
Mr Jager said that Zespri was well on track to selling more than 50 million trays of G3 in 2018.
John Loughlin, acting chief executive of post-harvest company EastPack, said it expected to pack close to 32 million trays this season, up from 24 million last year, with about one-third of the fruit processed Gold.
"There's been a huge recovery after the G3 graftings of the past couple of years and that's most of the change."
Mr Loughlin noted there had also been a big productivity lift in Green as well, which he attributed to increased focus by orchardists on their Green crop while Gold was out of action.
Industry observers said the harvest had begun a little later this year, due to a combination of weather and growing factors.
Michael Franks, chief executive of Seeka Kiwifruit Industries, which expects to process 21 million trays of Green and
3 million trays of Gold this year, said despite the slightly slower start to the harvest, overall the season was on track.
"The quality of the fruit is looking good and the size is really good this season," he said. "We are expecting very good returns for our growers."
Growers urged to consider a move away from Gold kiwifruit
Zespri chief executive Lain Jager says that those growers still maintaining orchards of the "old" Gold variety Hort16A will need to make a decision about whether to graft over to Gold 3 (G3) within the next year or so.
This yearabout 5 million trays of Hort16A will be harvested, compared to 25 million trays of G3, according to Zespri forecasts.
"What we are seeing is Psa-V moving progressively throughout the country," said Mr Jager.
"It's not in all growing areas - it's not in Motueka or Whangarei. But as Psa-V impacts Hort16A plantings, we've seen growers progressively move across to G3."
Mr Jager said there would soon be an additional commercial pressure on Hort16A orchards to convert. Zespri offers a one-for-one licence swap allowing orchards to relinquish their Hort16A variety licences in exchange for G3 licences.
"We've said to growers, there is now a lot of growth in G3 and we've provided quite a lot of time for them to optimise their timing to swap over. We're now proposing to give notice of the end of that one-for-one swap."
Mr Jager did not specify when the notice would be given, but said growers wanting to make the swap would need to make the decision in the next year or so.
G3 had received a great reception in Japan last season and demand was strong from Zespri's customers in Japan, he said.
"Our in-market teams are focused on building the demand for G3," Mr Jager said.
