Will licence hectares be increased this year? Photo / 123RF
Kiwifruit growers are asking Zespri to rethink the way they have to bid for a licence, with some calling for more transparency in the closed tender process that raised more than $430 million for the export marketer last year.
In workshop meetings with the 2800 growers who supply the global marketer, a range of views had also been heard on the number of hectares that should be released for licensing, said chief executive Dan Mathieson.
"There's a wide range of views....some are happy with the licence release model, some want change.
"It's something we are looking at, including potential changes to the closed tender release process and the differing views on the amount of hectares that should be released next season.
"Some would like greater transparency as to the process itself and that's something we are looking at. Another area [of feedback] is growers would like certainty - how much is going to be released not next year, but in five years. They want more of a longer term position."
Mathieson said with pandemic uncertainty Zespri had ceased signalling its release intentions five years out, but would resume that from next year.
In its annual effort to keep demand ahead of fruit supply and because of higher production than expected on existing orchards, Zespri this year halved to 350ha the licence area available for its top-selling SunGold variety. In the following bidding, the median price of a SunGold licence reached $801,000/ha (excluding GST), up from $550,000 last year. The minimum price of $451,950/ha this year was down from $525,000/ha in 2021. No organic SunGold licence was available due to sufficient supply.
Another 350ha of licences for the recently commercialised Zespri RubyRed was released this year. The median price was $147,000/ha (excluding GST), up from almost $75,000/ha last year. The minimum price dropped from $58,000/ha in 2021 to $44,217 this year.
This year there were 169 successful SunGold licence bidders, compared to 187 last year when 700ha of licence was available. Both Zespri SunGold and RubyRed Kiwifruit licence pools were undersubscribed, with 324ha of SunGold and 280ha of RubyRed licence allocated in 2022.
Zespri's global operating revenue, including licence revenue, was $4.47 billion in the 2021-2022 year. Gross licence revenue was $430.1m, plus other licence revenue of $6.6m.
Asked if licence hectares were likely to be increased, Mathieson said maintaining fruit quality was paramount in decision-making.
"We see growing demand for the Zespri brand, [but] we have to take a close look at the supply side to ensure we can manage the quality as well as continue to grow. Getting the pace of growth right is going to be a key area of focus."
The 2021-2022 export season has been marred by fruit quality issues, mostly due to pandemic-related labour shortages. The sector was 6000 workers short in each of the past two years.
Mathieson said the size of future licence release area also depended on factors such as how quickly workers returned to the industry and how confident the post-harvest, packhouse sector was in its future investment plans.
On the likelihood of changes to the licensing process, Mathieson said this area would be looked at in stages.
"Some things we may be able to do more quickly, those that don't have so much impact on the process itself. Others will maybe take us longer to build in. They may not be able to be built into SunGold but maybe they can be built into future varieties."
The Zespri board will consider arrangements for the 2023 licence release this month.