The apple season will still be a bumper despite T&G Global's lower first-half-year profit forecast, says New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard and reported by FreshPlaza. In a NZX announcement T&G Global reported a 49 per cent decrease in first-half-year profit, with poor weather contributing to harvest timing, quality, volume and margin. "Inclement weather also affected third-party growing partners in New Zealand and internationally, leading to an overall decrease in the volume of fruit available," T&G Global said. Profitability was also affected by the northern hemisphere where fruit was available for a longer period, delaying the switch…

A group of leading New Zealand cherry growers have joined together to export a premium cherry line to the international markets starting in the 2017/18 season. "Pure Pac consists of a group of 7 passionate Cherry Growers who all own orchards in the Cromwell Area Central Otago," explains Ross Kirk, Chief Executive of Hortinvest which has been contracted as Pure Pac's project manager and packhouse manager. "What makes Pure Pac unique is all the shareholders are grower suppliers. We will grow, pack and market the fruit directly to buyers in the international market. Pure Pac have engaged an experienced team…

Apple growers have good reason to be optimistic, with New Zealand named the world’s most competitive apple performer in the World Apple Report for the third consecutive year. The good news comes as hundreds of apple growers and industry players descend on Napier for Pipfruit New Zealand’s annual two-day conference. (August 2nd) Pipfruit New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard says the apple industry continues to grow and is a significant contributor to the Hawkes Bay and New Zealand economies with a goal to achieve $1bn in export returns by 2022. “Although the outlook is bright we are focusing our conference…

It was an all-New Zealand affair in Orange County, California today as Zespri officially opened its regional office to manage growing sales across Northern, Central and Southern America. Zespri Chief Executive Lain Jager says Zespri is growing strongly across North America with most of this growth coming from the new gold variety Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit, which is proving hugely popular. “The New Zealand kiwifruit industry is on track to more than double sales to $4.5 billion by 2025 and an important part of this growth will come from developing markets like North America, as well growing sales in our more…

 Horticulture New Zealand has teamed up with WorkSafe New Zealand to create a health and safety toolkit specifically designed for horticulture businesses. "Managing health and safety in the workplace is a critical issue for horticulture businesses," Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Mike Chapman says. "Keeping up with what is required is something we can help growers with. "Working with WorKSafe, we have been able to customise a toolkit, called Keep Safe, Keep Growing, which includes both a written booklet and an easy-to-work-through online guide to help growers identify and manage health and safety risks. "The guideline is targeted at those…

Corrections Minister Louise Upston says an initiative between Corrections and Horticulture New Zealand is proving beneficial to the department’s goal of turning offenders’ lives around. Following the successful first year of a pilot programme in Hawke’s Bay that was established to help ex-prisoners and community-based offenders find sustainable employment in the horticulture industry, Corrections and Horticulture New Zealand are now looking to expand the initiative into the Bay of Plenty. The agreement supports training packages that help prisoners become work-ready for employers and offer permanent career opportunities in horticulture to prisoners once released. “This initiative has been a win-win and…

New changes to update kiwifruit regulations and help future-proof the industry will come into force on 1 August 2017, Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy has announced today. “These changes were announced last year and will help ensure the industry is best structured for future growth,” says Mr Guy. New amendments to the Kiwifruit Export Regulations will: allow Zespri shareholders to consider setting rules around maximum shareholding and eligibility for dividend payments; clarify the activities Zespri can undertake as a matter of core business; and enhance the independence and transparency of the independent industry regulator, Kiwifruit New Zealand. “These changes…

New Zealand’s horticulture industry has been valued at a record NZ$8.7bn, with more than NZ$5bn in exports iwifruit and wine are leading New Zealand’s growing horticulture industry, with the country exporting a record NZ$5.1bn in produce in the year to June 2016. Accounting for around 10 per cent of New Zealand’s merchandise export income, the record value is up 19 per cent on last year, according to the latest issue of Fresh Facts, published by Plant & Food Research. Total fresh fruit exports increased 35 per cent to NZ$2.6bn, with kiwifruit exports up 42 per cent to NZ$1.7bn, apple exports…

If the UK adopts a 'New Zealand trade model' to source more affordable deals for its consumers, it could have a profound effect on olive oil exporters that have faced hurdles when exporting to EU countries.  At the end of March, UK Minister Theresa May officially triggered Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, setting in motion the two-year negotiation process of Britain leaving the European Union – or as it’s more commonly referred to, Brexit. The move signals a fundamental change in the way the EU and Britain will conduct trade now and in the future. Not only will…

Zespri officially opened its Middle East office in Dubai earlier this week to manage its growing sales and marketing programmes in this region and other developing markets. Zespri Chief Executive Lain Jager said at the event that Zespri was growing its presence across the Middle East, India and Africa and the new office would support this growth. “More consumers in the UAE and these regions are enjoying the great taste of premium quality, healthy Zespri Kiwifruit, with sales set to increase by more than 50 percent over the next five years to over 4 million trays of New Zealand fruit…

The start of 2017 saw two thirds of New Zealand’s exports to Korea become duty free, up from 46% in 2016. Trade Minister Todd McClay says more local food businesses looking to expand into Korea will benefit from the latest round of tariff reductions under the New Zealand-Korea Free Trade Agreement, signed December 2015. New Zealand has experienced strong results particularly in the food and beverage sector where exports to Korea have increased by over 16%. Korea is New Zealand’s 6th largest goods export market, worth NZ$1.5 billion in the year ending September 2016. Meat, dairy, fruit and seafood exports…