Zespri sets sights on SunGold at end of rainbow

Zespri is hoping to sell more than 60 million trays of gold3 kiwifruit this year.

Zespri's major challenge and opportunity is marketing the rapidly increasing volumes of the new Gold3 variety, sold globally as SunGold, chief executive Lain Jager told the Bay of Plenty Times.

Gold3 volumes are expected to more than double to 60 million trays by 2019.

Zespri "absolutely" believed it could sell the volumes but it would be costly in promotional terms in the initial stages, with some $130 million earmarked for marketing in 2015, said Mr Jager.

The strategy has included managing down expectations on price fuelled by initial high returns on Gold, when the market was under-supplied in the wake of Psa.

"Our commercialisation strategy has been set to SunGold pricing this year consistent with longer-term positioning of the product while investing heavily in marketing," said Mr Jager.

Zespri expected to spend more than $2 a tray - about 12 per cent of sales revenues - on marketing Gold this year, which Mr Jager said would "normalise" over the next three years to about 7 per cent of sales.

"The upfront spend is about introducing this great product to consumers around the world," said Mr Jager.

By comparison, Zespri currently spends about 5 per cent of sales in marketing its mature Green kiwifruit.

"The challenge is not the 60 million trays but the rate of growth as vines recover from Psa," he said.

"Zespri is investing heavily in this future growth."

The export marketing entity has increased its head count from 217 employees last year to 317 this year, with 133 based in markets around the world, compared with 123 last year.

The company was also investing in logistics and financial systems to right size the business for both its New Zealand and its global 12-month supply, which involves sourcing from international growing partnerships.

The investment has included a $14.5 million spend in doubling its footprint of planning and order management systems software SAP.