Kiwifruit industry review underway as huge number of fruit rejected with less to sell

Kiwifruit quality remains an ongoing and significant issue this season. Photo / Supplied

The kiwifruit industry is expected to suffer huge losses to this year's harvest as large numbers of fruit have been rejected.

Early predictions this season indicated another record-breaking crop of at least 190 million trays of kiwifruit, overtaking last year's record of more than 177 million trays. But new revisions reveal it will fall below last season's volumes.

Zespri said in a statement to growers last week that fruit quality remains an ongoing issue this season and fruit loss was expected to be significantly above its latest forecast.

So there would be "less fruit available for sale".

Forecasted Orchard Gate Returns could also be at the bottom or possibly below the June 2022/23 forecast.

Those forecasts show Zespri SunGold was $10.25 to $11.75 a tray while Zespri Green was $6 to $7.50. Orchard Gate returns in 2021/22 were $11.51 and $6.35 respectively.

A review was likely across the whole supply chain while one major packhouse estimated it lost about $1.8 million trying to reduce the impact on its production line.

The problem was threefold and due to fruit being damaged when it was picked, which caused it to rot. Other fruit was getting the Armillaria fungus in the cool stores while some had surface superficial skin rub that looked like a rash.

One grower has labelled the scenario "a perfect storm".

Zespri chief executive Dan Mathieson. Photo / Supplied

Zespri chief executive Dan Mathieson told NZME fruit quality remained a challenge this season and returns could drop below its current forecast.

"While our pricing is holding in most markets, the costs associated with this year's fruit quality issues are expected to be significantly above our last indicative forecast range from June, with conventional fruit returns likely to be at the bottom and possibly even below the ranges issued in June."

Labour shortages, supply chain congestion and inflationary pressures were at play and a new forecast would be announced later this month.

An industry review of fruit quality would focus on returning fruit losses and costs back to reasonable levels which would require a collaborative effort across the industry.

Mathieson said Zespri had well-developed screening processes in New Zealand and in market to ensure issues were picked up before the fruit was made available to consumers.

"We continue to work with our industry colleagues and partners to address the immediate and longer-term issues associated with fruit quality challenges to ensure we see improvements this year and into the years ahead."

Trevelyan Pack & Cool managing director James Trevelyan said the kiwifruit harvest had been tough.

He said more fruit had arrived at the packhouse damaged and it had double the amount of explosive fruit, which collapsed when the bins were tipped out.

"When you are processing you are processing about a bin a minute - when you stop that you have to clean all the fruit out. That can take 15 seconds a minute and you can see it kills production.

"It can be quite tempting to just try and hurry up and push the button again. So we have probably lost in the order of $1.8m in production and lost opportunity."

However, Trevelyan was confident the industry would sort it out.

"It's just making sure we are getting a bit of science behind what is going on. We'll peg it back, it's a bump in the road."

He said its kiwifruit volumes of 17.2 million trays were down on last season. It still had about 250 seasonal workers who were repacking fruit to be shipped offshore and Trevelyan's was still hiring staff.

Pāpāmoa kiwifruit grower Rob Thode, who had red kiwifruit and kiwi berries, said his season had gone well but he felt for other kiwifruit growers.

Fruit loss would come with consequences.

"It's an incredibly tricky time for the industry and there is no doubt that payouts are going to suffer because of that. The cost of quality in the industry is going to be really high."

When you combined that with increasing costs including labour "it has been a perfect storm really, massive on every front".

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc chief executive Colin Bond. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc chief executive Colin Bond said the full outcome of the 2022 kiwifruit harvest was yet to be seen as kiwifruit was still being repacked and about half had been shipped to overseas markets.

The harvest was one of the most challenging in recent memory and the industry should celebrate that it got through it, he said.

But Bond wants to ensure that growers' hard work came to fruition.

"A review, likely across the whole supply chain, is taking place to assess any factors which may have impacted upon what is shaping up to be a higher rate of reject fruit this year."

This season was expected to have a record-breaking crop of at least 190 million trays of kiwifruit, overtaking last year's record of over 177 million trays. However, revisions in the forecast indicate that this year's volume would be below last year, he said.

Anecdotal evidence also indicated that this year's harvest was impacted by a 30 per cent seasonal worker shortfall.

Bond said winter pruning was currently taking place on kiwifruit orchards - a skilled job that requires prior training.

In packhouses, the repacking of kiwifruit was being undertaken.

Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt. Photo / File

Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt said the kiwifruit sector was a very significant contributor to our economy.

"It is one of the primary reasons why this region has fared relatively well during the pandemic compared to other regions. The industry also has many spin-off benefits to other areas of the economy.

"Strong export industries are key to Aotearoa being able to maintain and lift living standards; we're fortunate that the kiwifruit industry has shown consistent, strong growth and we expect that to continue in the future."

In the 2021/22 kiwifruit season Zespri's global revenue exceeded $4 billion for the first time.

By the numbers

* As at August 9 Zespri had sold more than 60 million trays of its top seller SunGold kiwifruit and delivered more than 61 per cent of the season's gold fruit crop, compared to 60 per cent at the same time last year.
* It had delivered 40 per cent of this season's green crop, which yielded 8.5 million fewer trays than last season.
* In organic categories, Zespri had sold 900,000 trays and delivered 30 per cent of the organic green crop, compared to 33 per cent at the same time last season. For organic SunGold, 1.8m trays had been sold with a delivery of 57 per cent of the crop, compared to 50 per cent at the same time last season.

Source: Zespri