Grower returns in 2022-2023 knocked down from record highs. Photo / File
Grower returns in 2022-2023 knocked down from record highs. Photo / File
A $534 million bill for fruit quality shortfalls and a dive in grower payments have soured kiwifruit marketer Zespri’s financial results for 2022-2023, a year the sweetheart export industry would rather forget.
Severe weather and labour shortages, cost increases and supply chain challenges caused falls across all red-letter financial markers,from global operating revenue and net after tax profit, to fruit trays sold, payments to New Zealand growers, and dividends compared to last season.
Costs incurred for addressing sub-quality fruit issues increased from $307m last year to $534m.
Zespri is New Zealand’s dominant export marketer of kiwifruit and is wholly-owned by former and current growers.
Record high returns to growers of recent years took a big dip with green and gold fruit per hectare returns outside even the lower end of Zespri’s earlier forecast ranges. Total New Zealand-grown fruit and service payments, including a loyalty premium, fell to $2.2 billion from $2.47b last year.
Zespri’s net profit after tax, including revenue from selling growing licences, was $237.8m, compared to $361.5m. The company released a reduced number of SunGold variety hectare licences in the 2022-2023 season.
Global operating revenue was $4.22b, including licence revenue, compared to $4.47b last financial year.
Global fruit sales revenue at $3.92b was 3 per cent down on the previous year’s record $4.03b.
Zespri sold 183.5m trays of New Zealand and non-New Zealand-grown fruit globally, compared to 201.5m. The expected total dividend per share was $1.17, against the previous $1.78.
The company saw the steep rise in the scale of quality costs, along with increasing demand and stronger market prices, as “opportunities” for the industry to earn greater value and continue focusing on quality concerns and supply chain challenges.
Chief executive Dan Mathieson said while there had been strong market demand and pricing, and Zespri secured savings of more than $100m in its foreign exchange hedging policy, the season’s quality costs had significantly impacted grower returns.
He confirmed earlier Zespri forecasts of smaller fruit volumes in the new export season now under way.
The first shipments of the current season had been well-received by customers, Mathieson said, noting the industry’s track record of uniting to fight back against challenges. The gold fruit sector was devastated by the vine-killing Psa bacterial disease in 2010.
Sales revenue from fruit grown by Zespri’s overseas contractors also fell, coming in at $519m compared to $537m last year.
For New Zealand green fruit growers, the challenging year was particularly tough. Per tray they earned $5.78 per tray, an improvement on the $5.55 forecast in February, but significantly down on the previous season’s $6.35. Per hectare, green growers received $57,636, compared to $75,494.
Dan Mathieson, Zespri chief executive. Photo / Supplied
The picture was only a little brighter for organic green growers, who received a final return of $8.68 per tray or $60,012 per ha ($9.74 and $67,752).
