Final shipments of Zespri’s 2023 kiwifruit season set sail

About 782 tons of Zespri SunGold and 3,621 tons of Zespri Green kiwifruit have departed on the Discovery Bay ship — the final installments of Zespri’s kiwifruit season — and are expected to reach Tokyo in early October.

After Tokyo, the shipment will sail on to Kobe, Japan, and then to South Korea, according to a news release. 

Zespri Chief Operating Officer Jason Te Brake says there’s been a huge effort across the industry to deliver this season’s lower crop volume to customers in more than 50 countries around the world this season. 

“It was another extremely challenging growing season in New Zealand, with a significant reduction in yields as a result of poor growing conditions,” Te Brake said in the release.

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Zespri has chartered 51 vessels to ship this season’s kiwifruit from New Zealand in total — including four ships to Northern Europe, eight to the Mediterranean, two to North America’s West Coast and 37 to Asia, according to the release. The season’s final container shipments carrying the remaining 2,540 tons of kiwifruit are also expected to deliver over the coming weeks, the release said.

“While lower yields have put real pressure on growers, the industry has focused on maximizing value in market and through the supply chain. That’s meant a commitment to improving fruit quality which has been tracking significantly better than last year, and closer to what we saw in 2021,” Te Brake said in the release. “We’ve also implemented strong pricing this season, with per tray returns at the high end of early season guidance."

Compared to the 2022 season, Zespri will be finishing around eight weeks ahead of last year, which was a strategic decision to avoid late season quality costs for growers, he continued.

Looking ahead as New Zealand’s 2024 season

Te Brake also confirmed that planning for next year is underway, with significantly more fruit expected to help meet strong consumer demand. 

“Planning for the 2024 season is being led by the Industry Advisory Council, made up of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated members, post-harvest and Zespri’s senior leadership, and as part of this we’re looking at what changes we need to make to further lift quality and respond to the higher volumes we expect next season,” he said.

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Early indications suggest that New Zealand will have a good level of growth for both Zespri Green and Zespri SunGold kiwifruit in 2024, which are anticipated to bounce back from the challenges of the past two seasons, Te Brake said.

“But, as a primary industry, we’re still subject to weather-related challenges,” he said. “We are focused on ensuring we get the whole supply chain working well — from producing a quality product, getting it to market in great shape and then getting as much value as we can when it gets there, as this is crucial to ensuring we’re able to deliver more value back to our growers and communities."

Regardless, the industry is looking forward to finishing the New Zealand season well and transitioning to the Northern Hemisphere supply during the New Zealand off-season, Te Brake said.