New Zealand's largest amount of kiwifruit have been picked during the 2024 harvest.
A record of 193 million trays have been submitted this year as the season comes to an end, according to New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc. On average, each tray has about 30 pieces of kiwifruit.
NZKGI said "ideal weather" and "sufficient labour supply", has meant kiwifruit was picked off of the vines in an orderly manner over the last three months.
The 2024 crop comes in stark contrast to 2023’s meagre yield which left growers disappointed growers. Poor pollination, wind, flooding, hail and cyclones reduced the crop size and only 133 million trays were exported.
"Growers will now be carefully watching the large volume of this years’ fruit as it heads to overseas markets over the coming months to ensure that its quality is upheld and good prices are achieved," said NZKGI.
NZKGI chief executive officer Colin Bond said the success experienced over the harvest was a result of great teamwork across the supply chain to ensure great tasting kiwifruit reached consumers.
"I would like to thank the thousands of pickers and packers as well as the countless other workers who have rolled up their sleeves over the last year and worked diligently to create a successful harvest for our industry. The fruits of their labour have a flow-on effect to the wider communities who also profit from our success," said Bond.
According to NZKGI, growers were eagerly awaited the prices that Zespri could attract in overseas markets for their fruit.
"Despite gaining strong per tray returns over the last two years, poor yield has hurt growers financially. The low orchard yields, combined with increasing orchard costs, has meant that many growers are under the pump to keep their businesses afloat," said NZKGI.
"The quality of the kiwifruit would be tracked by NZKGI as it heads to overseas markets.
"The industry has worked collaboratively to resolve fruit quality issues and the expectation that they should now be largely resolved will become apparent towards the end of this year."
The 2024 record production of over 193 million trays is followed by 184 million trays in 2021 and 175 million trays in 2022.
New Zealand supply is forecast to increase to 208 million trays by 2028, NZKGI said.
It hasn't all been plain sailing in recent times for the industry. Last month, it was reported more than one million trays of Zespri kiwifruit would have to be destroyed due to a mouse problem onboard a ship.
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