The New Zealand kiwifruit season ends with a windfall as Zespri’s upcoming Northern Hemisphere’s harvest promises to be the “biggest yet.” This is according to the company’s Executive Officer-Northern Hemisphere Supply, Nick Kirton.
“This season’s harvest will be our biggest yet and we’re looking forward to providing consumers with more high-quality ad great-tasting kiwifruit. (This is) as we transition from New-Zealand-grown fruit to our Northern Hemisphere-grown fruit,” recounts Mr Kirton.
Zespri, the world’s biggest marketer of kiwifruit, aims to bolster emptying kiwi shelves in its supply markets with the European and Asian crop this Northern autumn.
Tapping the National Fruit
New Zealand is a key producer of kiwifruit and the fruit is the biggest horticultural export. The New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority says that in the 2021-22 market year, the country sold $2.911 billion worth of kiwis.
The country exports an annual average of 184 million trays of the fruit. At the end of 2022, 2,843 New Zealand kiwifruit farmers had grown the shelf staple on some 13,610 hectares.
The yield and growth of the New Zealand kiwifruit sector has been growing steadily since the 2019-20 production year.
Yields grew exponentially by 10.2% in the last two years. Productivity rose from 11,804 trays per hectare in the 2020-21 period to 13,007 trays per hectare in the 2021-22 season.
The number of exported trays ticked up from 161 million to 184 million across the 2020-21 and 2021-22 periods.
The kiwifruit market year in New Zealand runs from March to March year-on-year.
Europe and Asia Supplant Zespri’s New Zealand Sources
Zespri’s story echoes that of the national kiwifruit output above. According to Mr Kirton, with the onset of the Northern Hemisphere’s season, Zespri expects to sell 29 million trays. This will be 5 million more than the 24 million trays from last year worth 88,000 metric tonnes.
There are now 1500 global growers and suppliers in Europe and the Far-east working with Zespri. These help meet the Southern Hemisphere’s seasonal supply gap.
Asian and European countries with Zespri’s or affiliated orchards include France, Italy, Greece, Korea and Japan.
With the end of the kiwi season in the Southern hemisphere’s spring, the company is looking north for more. The last vessel carrying Zespri’s New Zealand Green and SunGold Kiwifruit sailed from the Port of Tauranga in September, 2023.
The Northern Hemisphere’s kiwi supplies are just rallying after weather-related poor performance in 2022.
“Last year was particularly a tough season for our growers in Europe and Asia, with sustained extreme heat…” remarks Mr Kirton.
Now, however, the future looks quite promising.
“Our Northern Hemisphere supply programme continues to grow and is expected to double in volume by 2030 providing strong returns to the local industry…and growing communities,” enthuses Mr Keaton.