6.1     Kiwifruit

6.1.1      Kiwifruit industry profile

New Zealand’s 2,516 kiwifruit growers produce approximately 140 million trays for export from 12,185 productive hectares. The Bay of Plenty is the focus of kiwifruit growing (principally Katikati, Te Puke, Tauranga and Opotiki) producing over 80% of the crop.

New Zealand-produced fresh kiwifruit exports were valued at $1,181 million in 2015, and $1,660 million in 2016. This represents an increase in value from 2015 to 2016 exports of $480 million (40%) and is the highest ever recorded value for exported kiwifruit.

The New Zealand kiwifruit industry has recovered from the devastating effects of a bacterial canker disease specific to kiwifruit, Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (termed Psa). Psa was detected in New Zealand in November 2010 and rapidly caused widespread and severe impacts to NZ's kiwifruit industry. Psa is also present in a number of countries including Italy, Japan, South Korea and Chile. There is no current cure for the disease.

The New Zealand kiwifruit industry’s dominant ‘Hayward’ variety (‘green’ kiwifruit) appears to be relatively tolerant to the disease and new varieties are being progressed (FreshFacts 2013).

More than 4,300 hectares of the new gold kiwifruit cultivar, ‘Zesy002’, commonly known as Gold3, have now been licensed in New Zealand with more than 60 million trays of the new fruit, marketed as Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit, expected to be produced annually by 2018. The new cultivar was fast-tracked through commercial launch in response to the identification of Psa in 2010, and is now seen as a cornerstone in the Psa recovery pathway. SunGold’s market performance has been very strong and as a result Zespri has released an additional 400 hectares of licence in 2016.

The industry-funded entity, Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH), leads the New Zealand recovery from Psa. This includes a comprehensive research and development programme involving researchers from New Zealand and around the world, working to develop strategies to combat the disease. KVH is also tasked with leading wider biosecurity for the kiwifruit industry. Its vision is “to achieve a high health status of kiwifruit vines, to enable a thriving and profitable New Zealand kiwifruit industry”. The key focus areas in support of this vision are: advocacy, promoting best practice biosecurity to growers, providing technical advice, removing wild kiwifruit and abandoned orchards, profiling new and emerging risks and managing industry preparedness and response.

Table 6.1.1: Kiwifruit industry statistics

As a result of the Kiwifruit Industry restructuring Act 1999, Zespri Group Ltd is a single desk exporter of kiwifruit to countries other than Australia. Zespri Group Ltd (Chief Executive – Lain Jager, www.Zespri.com) is a private company, employing around 350 people and owned by current and past New Zealand kiwifruit growers.

Kiwifruit exported to Australia are a prescribed product under the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act (NZKPGA Product Group Manager – Terry Richards), and the 14 HEA-licenced exporters to Australia are represented by Kiwifruit Exporters To Australia (KETA, www.keta.co.nz). Kiwifruit can be exported to countries other than Australia by applying to the industry regulator, Kiwifruit New Zealand, for a collaborative marketing programme. In 2016/17 there were 12 companies operating 25 collaborative marketing sales programmes with Zespri, exporting just over three million trays of kiwifruit from New Zealand to markets other than Australia.

The interests of growers are represented by New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (Chief Executive – Nikki Johnson, www.nzkgi.org.nz). NZKGI’s vision is to be a strong grower advocacy organisation that leads growers and engages with industry partners.  It has a mission to advocate, protect and enhance the commercial and political interests of NZ kiwifruit growers. NZKGI activities are led through strategic objectives in the areas of Labour & Education, External Relations, Industry Stability, Performance and Organisational Management.

New Zealand kiwifruit is exported under the following three HS Codes:

• 0810.50.00.10: kiwifruit, gold fleshed, fresh
• 0810.50.00.19: kiwifruit, green fleshed, fresh
• 0810.50.00.29: kiwifruit, other than gold or green fleshed, fresh

1. 6.1.2  Kiwifruit exports

Kiwifruit continues to be New Zealand’s largest single horticultural export by volume and value, and again exceeded $1 billion for exports in 2016. Volumes and value of exports continue to increase for this reporting period with export volumes increasing 42% while values increased by 79% in 2016 compared to 2014.

The European Union and Japan takes 56% of all kiwifruit exported. The per tonne average value of kiwifruit exports to Japan is higher ($3,758/tonne) than the value achieved for kiwifruit exported to the European Union ($2,163/tonne). China is the third most important market with continued growth in exports, up in value by 67% over the report period.

Table 6.1.2: Kiwifruit (0810.50.00) export markets 2014-16(year ending June, tonnes and $NZ FOB)

Source: Statistics New Zealand