Zespri agent arrested: report

Nine staff at one of Zespri's new agents in China have been arrested by customs there for alleged smuggling, according to a report in the NBR, but New Zealand's kiwifruit export organisation says there is nothing to indicate that any Zespri fruit is affected.

Zespri appointed the importer, Dalian Yidu, as an agent in Northeast China last year after its previous China agent and importer, Shanghai Neuhof Trade Company, was found guilty on smuggling charges.

A Zespri spokesperson said Dalian Yidu was only one of four companies now handling Zespri's China imports, and also imported many other New Zealand and global agricultural products.

"It is one of Zespri's importers into China, dealing with less than 5 per cent of Zespri's China volume," the spokesperson said.

"Zespri's New Zealand supply season to our markets, including China, finished quite a while ago and Zespri has no financial exposure to Yidu.

"There is nothing to indicate this investigation involves Zespri kiwifruit."

The Bay of Plenty Times understands that Dalian Yidu acted on acted on a buy-sell, not a consignment basis, meaning that it bought fruit from Zespri on its own account and sold it into the market.

According to the NBR report, Dalian Yidu staff, including its owner Liu Zhi and his brother, were arrested by Chinese customs last Saturday.

Following the arrests all fruit imported to Shanghai by Dalian Yidu - including over 150 containers of Chilean cherries and over 200 containers of Peruvian Red Globe grapes - had been seized, while its bank accounts had been frozen, the report said.

The Zespri spokesperson said the situation remained unclear, but the company was monitoring the situation.