Zespri offers relief to hard-pressed green fruit growers with special access to gold licences

Zespri to ensure squeezed green fruit growers have a chance at securing a gold fruit licences. Photo / Supplied

Kiwifruit marketer Zespri will set aside 200 hectares of its next limited growing licence release area so green fruit growers get a chance to access the prized best-seller SunGold variety.

Zespri's board has approved the release of a total of 350ha of SunGold and 150ha of the new RubyRed licence for next year.

Of the 350ha of SunGold, 200ha will be ringfenced in a separate licence sale pool, available only to green fruit growers wanting to convert to the gold fruit.

Green fruit growers do not require a licence. Their returns have disappointed in recent years, and with rising orchard costs, some are said to be now losing money each harvest.

Optimising market performance of green fruit was a key priority for Zespri's marketers, the company said in an update to growers. Managing green volumes would help return more value to growers and offset rising costs throughout the supply chain.

Zespri will also change the way growers compete for licences after an independent review of the process and consultation with growers.

The current closed tender bid process will switch to a new open ascending-price auction, expected to be implemented next year. Details would be confirmed in December once the technology platform was secured, the update said.

The decision to release 350ha of SunGold was at the bottom end of the previously advised range of licence release, which was 350-700ha. The new licensed area is for supply in 2-4 years time.

Licence sales are a big earner for Zespri, last year bringing in $436.2m of its total $4.3 billion operating revenue.

In 2021, the median price for a gold licence reached $550,000/ha, up from $400,000 the previous year.

For the new red variety, the median price was nearly $75,000, up by more than $10,000 on 2020. Organic gold fetched a median price of $305,000/ha.

The Zespri board also confirmed future licence release to 2027, to give its 2500-plus growers more time to plan.

It intends to release 500ha of SunGold licence each year in 2024 and 2025, of which 200ha will be set aside exclusively for green fruit growers' bids, subject to annual review.

In 2026 and 2027, the indication is for 350-500ha a year to be released, again including a portion set aside for green growers.

The indication for red fruit licence release is 150ha each year in 2024 and 2025, and a range of 100-300ha a year in 2026 and 2027, subject to annual review.

Zespri said in setting the 2023 licence area, the board considered not just market demand and the strategy of keeping demand ahead of supply, but the challenges the industry faces with labour shortages and a need to improve fruit quality.

Meanwhile, the Mount Maunganui-headquartered global marketer said provisional assessments from the severe early October frost event suggested a 10-15 per cent reduction in planned green and SunGold fruit crops for the 2023 harvest.

The polar blast was also expected to cause a 15-25 per cent fall in the planned red fruit crop.

Orchards across the Bay of Plenty and Waikato were most severely affected. The full impact of the frosts are still weeks away from being fully known, the company said.