By PHILIPPA STEVENSON
Heavyweight apple marketer Enza is to sue minnow exporter Fresh NZ, alleging that the first-timer in overseas markets cost it sales and destroyed prices.
This was the first year for a new permits regime which allowed exports of apples complementary to Enza's 17 million cartons, and yesterday the company
followed up its complaints about the process with legal action.
It said it believed Auckland-based Fresh NZ, and its local market company Select had breached permit conditions on exports to Tahiti, Libya and Canada.
Enza chief executive David Geor said the alleged breaches were damaging to Enza's business "and displayed blatant disregard for the apple and pear export permits process."
Fresh NZ managing director Lew Dagger described the allegations as garbage.
He said he and fellow directors named in the lawsuit filed yesterday in the High Court at Wellington had no doubt that they had acted in accordance with their permits.
The company had permits for 140,000 cartons to be exported to the Pacific Islands, Britain and Libya. Other permits covered Canada and Malta.
Mr Geor said Enza was not prepared to stand by and see the permits breached.
The company's claim alleges that fruit to be supplied to a Tahitian supermarket chain was supplied to a wholesaler and distributed widely in Tahiti and possibly New Caledonia.
It also claimed fruit sent to Libya was sold in Singapore, and some to be sent to two Toronto retailers went to a wholesaler.
As a result, Enza suffered lost sales or price destruction, Mr Geor said. "We have therefore decided to act ourselves to protect our position in our markets and the returns to our growers."
Mr Dagger said Enza seemed to be claiming that three containers of apples destroyed the Singapore market. "I find that somewhat bizarre."
The Export Permits Committee, appointed by the Apple & Pear Marketing Board, received export applications for about eight million cartons of apples, and granted them for about two million.
In April last year, Mr Dagger said he had been forced to source apples from South Africa.
