Kiwifruit growers could be facing a 50 per cent drop in income this season, despite Zespri predictions of a 15 per cent improvement for gold and a reduction of 15 and 12 per cent for green and organic respectively, industry sources say.
Returns from gold kiwifruit are up on average only
because production has risen from previously low-producing new orchards and returns per tray could be down to $3, from $5 last season.
Green kiwifruit growers who made $4 a tray last year might receive only $2 a tray profit this season.
That means a grower who produced 100,000 trays of green this season will see a drop in profit of $200,000 and for gold growers who may have been expecting $100,000 in profit from their orchard, the return will in fact be $40,000.
"That's a significant reduction in income for the normal grower which will have effects not just on growers but on the rural economy too," one industry source said.
Returns overall for gold fruit were up because more fruit was produced this season. Zespri's reporting was for orchard gate returns and doesn't take into account on-orchard costs to be met by growers.
Growers have been told their orchard gate returns will be down $1.95 a tray for green, from $8.82 last season.
On-orchard costs still had to come out of that figure and returns could pull back further if there were more fruit losses offshore.
This could mean average grower profit after on-orchard costs last season of $4 a tray could drop this season to $2 or even $1, depending on costs and volumes.
- NZPA
