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Zespri’s Dave Courtney.
Zespri says it’s excited about another strong season shaping up for the kiwifruit industry.
The chief grower and alliances officer, David Courtney, says this season started a little earlier and the industry is right into harvest now.
He told Hort News that for the first time ever they are expecting to supply more SunGold than Green. Latest estimates are 75 million trays of SunGold and slightly fewer than 75m trays of Green.
“The dry weather in most growing regions has created some uncertainty on fruit sizing, but we’re expecting a great tasting crop,” Courtney says.
“Our first vessel has taken fruit to Japan and China, our two biggest markets. We’ll export 600,000 pallets of kiwifruit and use 18,000 containers and 45 charter vessels to transport our fruit to Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean.”
Courtney says the early feedback from the markets has been positive.
New Zealand's kiwifruit industry has welcomed Government co-investment in a new five-year programme designed to help growers produce higher yields of premium fruit, with less water, fewer nutrients and reduced environmental impact.
Zespri's sales of kiwifruit for the 2025 season have broken all past records.
Zespri says its global fruit sales revenue has reached a record NZ$5.9 billion from sales of 248.1 million trays.
Zespri says it welcomes the recently signed Western Bay of Plenty Regional Deal, describing it as an important step towards supporting growth in the region and for New Zealand's kiwifruit industry.
Zespri has unveiled Grown for Good, a refreshed global brand platform, in an effort to reinforce the company's commitment to nutrition and creating value across the kiwifruit industry.
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