Tuesday, 11 February 2025 08:25

Massive bounce back

Written by  Peter Burke
MPI director general Ray Smith. MPI director general Ray Smith.

The Director General of MPI, Ray Smith, says the growth in the kiwifruit sector is a massive bounce back.

In MPI's latest outlook report, kiwifruit exports in 2025 will hit nearly $3.5 billion which Smith says is amazing given the problems including adverse weather the sector has had to deal with in the past couple of years.

"Issues such labour shortages, fruit quality issues and ongoing adverse weather conditions. They have done an amazing job despite all the problems they have faced," he says.

Smith says horticulture is now NZ's third largest export earner, having pushed forestry into 4th place and chasing down the meat and wool sector which earns just over $11 billion.

He says another highlight in the SOPI report is the apple sector with export earnings now sitting at just over $1 billion.

He says but for Cyclone Gabrielle, they may well have achieved this goal earlier.

He says people like our apples and see them as a good healthy product.

"With kiwifruit and apples, we now have two very large and developed industries with good technologies going in and good labour supply. We will see good growth this year," he says.

More like this

Featured

East Coast Expo delivers two action-packed days of events

The recent East Coast Farming Expo, held over two days at Wairoa, offered an insight into the current state of agriculture on the east of the North Island, at a time when the locals are remembering the second anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Sensors may aid early detection

A Research programme supported by Beef+Lamb NZ is investigating the potential of ‘accelerometer’ sensors for early detection of conditions such as facial eczema (FE) in sheep.

National

New Summerfruit NZ CEO

Dean Smith has been in the role of CEO of Summerfruit NZ for about four months, having succeeded Kate Hellstrom…

Machinery & Products

Ecorobotix announces NZ dealership

Swiss-based Ecorobotix has announced its entry into the New Zealand market through a strategic partnership with Canterbury-based New Zealand Tractors.

Sorting unwashed potatoes made easy

Downs, a leader in potato reception, automated sorting, and storage, has introduced its new high-throughput optical sorter for unwashed potatoes…

Jumbo X saves time and money

A winner of a prestigious ‘Technical Innovations 2024’ award by FederUnacoma at the EIMA show in Italy, the Maschio Jumbo…

NH unveils specialty tractor

New Holland recently showcased its new-generation T4.120 F specialty tractor, giving New Zealand customers a closer look at the winner…

Combining track and tyre

While the last fifty years has seen massive evolution and development of the humble tractor tyre, the last two decades…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Dodgy!

OPINION: If you believe Maori Party president John Tamihere’s claim that “nothing dodgy” occurred at Manurewa Marae during the last…

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter