Apples and Pears NZ to focus on boosting grower returns

She says for the last couple of years the focus has been on resetting and recovering from the adverse events that have plagued the sector, but she says it’s now on “what does growth look like”.

“What levers can we pull to improve that return, because the billion-dollar story for exports is fantastic, but that doesn’t tell the whole story because it’s based on revenue and not return. There is still a lot of pain out there and there are issues around market access, so we are crystal ball gazing about what the next five years might look like,” she says.

“One of the things I do hear from every single region is concerns the shipping,” says Morrish. She says there was a feeling that after Covid this would settle down, but it hasn’t. She there are continuing delays into Europe and the US and there is still a problem getting empty containers to NZ.

“There is also the issue with some shipping lines not wanting to come to NZ, full stop. So, it’s not like we have a platter of options,” she says.

The main port through which apples are exported is Napier, followed by Nelson and Dunedin. Gisborne growers send their fruit to Napier, while Canterbury growers send theirs north to Nelson.

The mood in markets is strong, according to Morrish, but she quickly adds that, as per normal, these tend to ebb and flow. This year there was an early and positive start to the season with some fruit being picked a week ahead of normal.

“That actually provided a very good opportunity for people with the earlier varieties to be able to pick and get the fruit into market early and take advantage of high paying markets – that was a huge positive,” she says.

Morrish notes, however, it’s still too early to get a figure on the value of exports.

For Apples and Pears NZ (APNZ), better trade access and reduced tariffs are a high priority. NZ scored big time with the NZ/ EU FTA which saw tariffs on apples cut from day one. Now the focus is on India where NZ faces a 50% tariff on its apple exports and 35% on its pears. About 8% of the NZ apple crop is exported to India and APNZ is working closely with MFAT trade negotiators to get the present tariffs removed or reduced.

Morrish was a member of a NZ horticulture delegation which visited India late last year. She says that in return for lifting tariffs on NZ apple exports to India, the NZ apple sector is assessing what it can do to help the local Indian industry. This approach is like other NZ primary sector groups interested in boosting exports to India, should a free trade agreement is negotiated between the two countries.

While trade is important, there are other factors linked to greater grower profitability and one that doesn’t ever seem to go away is rising orchard costs. Karen Morrish says the cost of power, rates and labour are still high.