Costly quality issue for NZ

Seeka's Michael Franks says Zespri has been investigating why, in recent years, there's been a drop in quality of the kiwifruit crop.

"Some of the fruit has arrived in the market soft and a large team from Zespri has been tasked with finding out why this is the case," he explains.

"The reasons offered so far are adverse climatic events coupled with the impact of Covid-19, which has resulted in labour shortages at harvest, post-harvest and right through the supply chain with erratic shipping schedules."

Franks told Rural News there is a huge opportunity to improve the brand by delivering the consumer better quality and deliver improved earnings to the industry by lowering the total cost of quality from the estimated $490m.

"Losing some fruit is a fact of life when dealing with a perishable product, but the present loss should not be this high."

Franks believes the problem is particularly prevalent when shipping to European ports because it takes longer to get there.

"With the added shipping delays caused by Covid, the problem has been exacerbated."

He says the problem is not quite so bad with shipments to Asia, which is closer to NZ.

"The lack of skilled people to pick last season's harvest, which was rushed anyway, contributed to the advent of poorer quality fruit."

Franks says at one stage Seeka itself was 1,100 staff short.

While the news is outwardly negative, he sees a great opportunity for NZ and kiwifruit growers if the quality issue can be solved.

Franks reckons if the industry can bounce back and focus on the issues offshore - as well as on the home front - there will be benefits for all.