By PHILIPPA STEVENSON
Enza's plan to secure an urgent hearing on the actions of the Independent Export Permits Committee suffered a setback when a planned High Court hearing in Wellington was adjourned to March 26.
Enza is worried about the amount of fruit which could be independently exported, and has sought
a definition of "complementary exports."
Independent export permits can be approved by the permits committee only if they do not compete with Enza produce in the international marketplace.
Enza chairman Tony Gibbs said national crop estimates ranged from 17 million cartons to 15.5 million cartons and his company estimated it would export about 14.9 million cartons.
"But because of the permits ... it could be a lesser amount."
Mr Gibbs said tough times lay ahead for many growers.
"We know it's hard in apple land. It's symptomatic of what's happening around the world, where some growers are getting bigger and smaller growers are not surviving."
At the end of February, the permits committee said it had 99 applications for export consents from 31 applicants, for a total of about 10.4 million cartons.
Seventy permits had been issued or approved in principle for about 4.4 million cartons. Around a fifth of the volume approved was for organic or similar fruit.
Under the permits, fruit is destined to Asia (428,000 cartons), the United States and Canada (945,500 cartons), Britain (866,000 cartons) and Europe (849,500 cartons).
The committee gave no regional destination for a further 1.3 million cartons.
Applications had been declined or withdrawn for 5.4 million cartons.
