While Psa has not completely disappeared from orchards, most industry observers are comfortable the problem is being well-managed.
The new Sungold (G3) variety is showing signs of being high yielding and the expanded new production will flow through in the next season's harvest.
"This will place considerable pressure on critical industry infrastructure, especially post-harvest capacity," he said, and EastPack was making a significant capital investment in quality equipment and infrastructure to meet that growth.
EastPack's initial 2015 crop estimates indicated its total volume would be between 29.5 million and 31.0 million trays, up from 24.6 million in 2014.
EastPack, which last year merged with another post-harvest operator, Satara, is New Zealand's biggest kiwifruit packhouse and cool store operator, with seven facilities in Te Puke, Edgecumbe, Opotiki, Katikati and Whangarei.
The new grader was expected to be installed by Christmas and the cool store would be ready by the time harvest season opened next year.
The post-harvest sector has always been competitive and became even more so during the downturn when post-harvest companies had to fight for their share of a Psa-diminished harvest.
In addition to EastPack's merger with Satara, last year saw Katikati-based rival Apata merge with Aerocool of Te Puke.
"It's always going to be competitive," said EastPack chief executive Tony Hawken, who will step down at the end of this year after 31 years with the company.
"We live in the post- harvest world in a very competitive environment. But I think it's good that the industry is competitive because it pushes innovation and new ideas."
Fruity forecast
Industry-wide, kiwifruit volume is expected to increase from 93 million trays in 2014 to about 140 million trays by 2018 as the new Sungold variety progresses to full production.