Satara suffers from high dollar

Kiwifruit co-operative Satara said the high dollar and lower Zespri payout pushed down its earnings for the year ended December.

Satara reported a net loss of $225,852 for the year compared with a net profit of $1.1 million the previous year.

Satara said transactor shareholders would receive a rebate of 28c a kiwifruit tray packed, while investor shareholders would receive a fully imputed dividend of 3c a share.

Group general manager Murray Gough said from a harvest perspective 2005 was a successful year, with last year's record 11.2 million trays slightly exceeded.