Apple returns a disaster say growers

HASTINGS - Conventional apple growers have had year after year of bad seasons, but Hastings grower Gary Wake has never seen it look this grim.

He had predicted returns of between $16 and $22 per carton of Braeburns , but a swamped European market has dropped that to just $8.

Pipfruit New Zealand is calling the market situation a disaster, and has sent a letter out to growers urging them to think with their heads, not their hearts, in deciding whether to stay in the industry.

Mr Wake agrees.

"It's very, very grim.

"It's anyone's guess where it's going to end up. It's what that last 10 to 20 per cent sells for, that's what makes up the numbers at the end of it."

Fruitgrowers Association chairman Leon Stallard says other varieties are breaking even, but the exchange rate, a great foreign summerfruit season and a European glut meant 18 million cartons of New Zealand Braeburns already shipped overseas were losing money.

Nearly every grower in Hawke's Bay had planted Braeburn, and he said orchards in Central Otago were now full of dairy cows.

"They've just shut the gate and walked away".

"Everyone rings and asks 'How do we get out of it?' I don't know. There's no easy answer."

Mr Stallard said the current export system was definitely not working and suggested it might be time to introduce a regulatory body.

The apple industry, which used to operate under marketing board ENZA, was deregulated in 2001.

Mr Stallard said better promotion of New Zealand apples could also help, citing the way the Zespri brand had saved the kiwifruit industry.

Communication among exporters would help them spread their fruit over different markets, a tactic that was already working for the New Zealand summerfruit industry.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY