Paul Paynter, Yummy Apples general manager, believes the future is uncertain for the industry. Photo / File
Paul Paynter, Yummy Apples general manager, believes the future is uncertain for the industry. Photo / File
A Hawke's Bay grower says approximately 12 million apples will likely rot on his trees because of Covid-19 disruptions to the fruit market.
Yummy Apples general manager Paul Paynter said last week was right up there with the most stressful he had experienced in the industry, including the March 1994Hawke's Bay hailstorm which caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.
"It was the worst week I can remember and we were all in an extremely stressful situation with the weather rigours and trying to make sure we comply with the Covid-19 restrictions," Paynter said.
"Our shipping has been disrupted, particularly China. The customers are fearful, fruit markets are closed. It is not good for business.
He said workers at the orchard had to maintain their distances and people were "spread far and wide".
"Our crop is 10 per cent bigger than we thought, and we have 20 per cent less shipping. It's a logistical crisis," Paynter said.
"Our New Zealand sales are weird. Two weeks ago we had record sales, when people were panic buying, our biggest sales.
"Now we have less than usual sales. It is hard to forecast what the future would look like."
He said while the orchard had enough manual labour, they were in need of skilled labour.
"We have enough staff, we have people who have lost their jobs who have come to the rescue, people in tough family situations who would rather pick apples for a month than be at home," he said.
"But we need a couple of forklift drivers, quality controllers, lines supervisors and other skilled labour."
But he said as the lockdown went on, they were expecting to not be able to pick their crops.
