Licences keep gold kiwifruit boom under control

Simon Limmer

The number of hectares of kiwifruit is expected to increase across the Bay of Plenty as the industry booms. However, those wanting to grow gold kiwifruit may be in for a long wait as Zespri has no plans to release any more licences, despite high demand.

Zespri chief operating officer Simon Limmer said it had issued about 4900 hectares of gold licence at present and all but about 100ha of that was Zespri SunGold (Gold3).

"Currently, we consider we have sufficient Gold3 planted to reach our target of 60 million trays of gold by 2019, which is up from around 30 million trays in 2015."

There were no plans for releasing any more licences until Zespri had a better understanding of the long-term market potential of Zespri SunGold, Mr Limmer said.

"We will continue to assess its overall demand and our product mix, particularly in light of significant Zespri Green production this year combined with the growth in SunGold volumes."

There was a high demand for a gold licence and had been since SunGold was commercialised in 2010.

"Any Zespri growers who want to buy a gold licence should advertise in local publications and speak to their post-harvest facilities, as growers can trade licences between themselves.

"All licence transfers between growers must be approved by Zespri."

There were 12,180 producing hectares of Zespri kiwifruit this year nationally with 9846ha of those being in the Bay of Plenty.

That number had jumped significantly from 6767ha last year due to recently-grafted SunGold vines coming into production.

However, the total planted hectares (not all of which is producing) in the Bay had remained at 10,745ha.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers president Neil Treblico expected more plantings as the industry recovered from Psa but it would take three to five years before those vines came into production.

The future was looking bright for the kiwifruit industry, he said.

"We just have to wait and see obviously what the strength of that recovery will be."

The market had responded well to SunGold and volumes would continue to rise as more kiwifruit came on stream, Mr Treblico said.

"It has gone well this year, so it will be interesting to see how it goes next season.

"But all the feedback from the market is they have been very well received."

He said no licence was needed to grow green kiwifruit and it had also enjoyed a bumper season.

Last month, a Statistics NZ report said the annual value of New Zealand's fruit exports reached an all-time high of $2 billion in the year ended June 2015.

That was a 20 per cent, or $330 million, increase on the previous year.

Kiwifruit led the monthly increases, despite a 5.3 per cent fall in the canopy area of kiwifruit.