By PHILIPPA STEVENSON
agricultural editor
The fruit industry, from apples to Zespri kiwifruit, doubled revenues in the past 10 years and aims to do it again, with sales topping $3.8 billion, by 2010.
It aired the ambition in a document launched last week in which the industry hails its success as "the
innovative leader of the global fruit business."
It backs its boast with a quote from David McCann, chief executive of Fyffes, Europe's largest fresh-produce distributor, who said on a visit last year that "the market thinks New Zealand fruit walks on water."
Fruitgrowers Federation chief executive Peter Silcock said the glossy, 18-page report grew from work done for the Government's Foresight Project and was meant as "a celebration of the fruit industry."
It would inform key industry people, politicians, their advisers and potential foreign investors in the industry, Mr Silcock said. "We want to show the industry has a bright future and is worthwhile investing in."
Prepared by the 11-member Fruit Industry Innovation Council, the report says horticulture is undergoing major expansion.
It includes as examples the meteoric climb of the avocado industry from $11 million of sales in 1993 to an expected $40 million this year, the likely 28 per cent growth in wine-grape growing by 2002, the burgeoning Zespri Gold kiwifruit crop and the expected growth in citrus revenue from $8.7 million to $32 million by 2010.
At the report launch, Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said fruit, vegetables and flowers made up 13.6 per cent of agricultural exports and 7 per cent of all exports, with markets in 110 countries. The industry supported $3 billion in economic activity and employed 25,000 people a year.
The report says New Zealand is recognised globally for its ability to develop and commercialise new products and technologies. The "knowledge-based industry" was forecast to earn $1 billion from intellectual property within a decade.
Mr Silcock said the industry's educational requirements were at odds with the declining number of students doing horticultural degrees. A second print run of the report was likely to be distributed to careers advisers and schools to try to address the problem.
