Kiwifruit growers celebrate smoothest season in memory, says Bond

He says there haven't been any of the major adverse weather events that have created chaos in past years.

Bond says there have been some spells of rain, but there doesn't appear to be too much stress among growers. He attributes this in part to the fact that there was an early start to the season and quite a lot of fruit got picked before the rain arrived.

"So overall we can celebrate the good seasons when they happen, and certainly from a harvest perspective it is going relatively smoothly, and growers are delighted with the quality of the fruit and the size of their yields," he told Hort News.

"Overall, I would rate the season a solid eight out of ten," he says.

In the past there have been labour issues in the sector, but Bond says there is now a more consistent pattern of harvesting fruit with the red variety coming off first then green and gold. He says the early start to the season kept a lid on the number of labour units needed by packhouses and he says the industry is now benefiting from post-harvest automation reducing labour needs.

"Thankfully we are in a much better labour situation than we were in previous seasons," Bond says.

While the season overall is looking good, there are growers in Hawke's Bay and Tairawhiti still recovering from the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Second, he says he's still hearing from some about lingering health issues affecting their vines, but they are dealing with the situation as best they can and making good management decisions about replacing some and nursing others back to health.

"A lot of those growers are not back to optimum production, but the majority will be returning to profitability, which is important," he says.

Logistics continue to be front of mind for the kiwifruit sector and a huge number of truck movements are required to get fruit from orchards to post harvest and then to port. Bond says traffic congestion is a bit of a "stone in the shoe" from time to time, but in general the supply chain is operating very effectively post-harvest. He says some worry about the reliance on the Port of Tauranga but he makes the point that it has been operating at a high level this season.

NZKGI chief executive Colin Bond.

Bond says Zespri is doing a very good job getting the fruit to market and, with their long-term shipping contracts in place and the use of charter vessels, they are the envy of some other product groups.

Overall, Bond says NZKGI is not blind to the challenges that exist in markets and at a macro level there are always issues around a slowdown in some economies, and cost of living issues. However, he believes that Zespri seems to be doing a good job getting kiwifruit into market.

He says red was nearly all sold and they are hearing that Zespri targets in all the key markets are being hit.

"This is a validation of the long-term trend that we have this fantastic product that is healthy and that is where the consumer trend is heading in terms of what they eat," he says.