China has more gold kiwifruit vines than New Zealand - but not all of it is legal

Photo / 123rf

RNZ

Illegal plantings of New Zealand's gold kiwifruit in China are continuing to soar and it's thought that country now has more gold vines than New Zealand.

The marketer Zespri has just released updated figures which show 12,000 hectares of the high valued gold kiwifruit variety is estimated to be growing in China, compared to 9,000 hectares of fruit being legally grown in New Zealand.

Zespri owns the rights to Sun Gold, or G3, and growers here pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per hectare to grow it.

Last season Zespri estimated 5,400 hectares of fruit was growing unlawfully in China, which was double the season before.

In an update to stakeholders released this week, Zepsri said it was difficult to get exact figures but the latest modelling shows unauthorised plantings were continuing to escalate.

"Recent Covid-19 restrictions in and around China's provinces have made gaining an accurate assessment of 2021/22 grafting difficult.

"However, following an assessment of the latest grafting window in China, our best estimate is that cut-over to Gold3 from less productive and lower returning varieties continues at a similar pace to previous years," it said in the update.

Zespri is currently asking for tenders for the next round of gold licence releases and it said applicants needed to do so knowing what is happening in China.

"Zespri had committed to providing growers and the industry with an update on the latest estimate of unauthorised Gold3 plantings in China before this season's New Zealand licence window closes."

The company said it was continuing work to understand the local Chinese production as well as taking anti-counterfeit measures to protect New Zealand sales.

It said legal action would be taken where possible.

- RNZ