Crop booms as kiwifruit growers go for gold

TAURANGA - This year's crop of golden kiwifruit - bred by researchers from the Actinidia chinensis species rather than the Actinidia deliciosa that produces traditional green fruit - is likely to be more than 10 times bigger than last year's.

That means kiwifruit marketer Zespri will have more than 4 million trays, compared with 320,000 trays exported last year.

The total crop, including green fruit, is expected to be between 50 million and 60 million trays.

Zespri is still earning big premiums on the golden-fleshed fruit, although this extra margin is expected to decline as production grows to a fifth of the national kiwifruit crop.

The gold fruit's sales in Japan, Britain and New Zealand, along with trial volumes in Europe, will be extended to the United States, with further small shipments to Europe and East Asia.

Some fruitgrowers are concerned that the lucrative returns to growers could reduce the traditional green Hayward crop to the point where it compromised New Zealand's ability to influence the market.

At the peak of the New Zealand season, New Zealand growers have 70 per cent of the world market.

Zespri, Kiwifruit New Zealand's international marketer, relies on having a lot of Hayward fruit to dominate key markets in Japan, Europe and North America during the Northern Hemisphere's off-season.

But it is now rolling out its operations over the full year, by buying or growing fruit in the Northern Hemisphere.

The estimate of more than 4 million trays has appeared in newsletters to kiwifruit growers but a Zespri International spokeswoman, Susan Robinson-Derus, would not put a figure on the gold crop.

Direct Management Services partner Paul Jones also refused to confirm the increase but said this year's Zespri gold crop was substantially bigger.

"Most orchards were grafted with gold in the winter of 1998 and the average per hectare production is beyond expectations and seems to be from 3000 to 7000 trays."

As vines matured, the average crop per hectare rose and could end up in the region of 10,000 or more trays a hectare.

Orchardists were paid about $13.60 a tray for Zespri gold last year - twice the amount they made on Haywards. But there were high reject rates, with an average of 40 per cent not making the export grade.

With the right equipment and correct handling procedures, that rate could be reduced to 20 per cent.

The Zespri gold crop would probably be picked between May 10 and May 30. It was ready later than Hayward and the early green cultivar tomua, for which picking was usually started in early April.

Ms Robinson-Derus said Zespri International was putting together programmes to launch the fruit in commercial quantities on to the European market, where only trial shipments have gone in the past. - NZPA