Industry experts claim that ongoing losses because of fruit quality issues might become a $500 million problem for the kiwifruit industry if a solution is not found. Zespri chairman Bruce Cameron said in an update to the industry that fruit loss and quality claims were well above historical averages, and he expected it to continue to be a problem in future.

Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit were particularly affected by quality issues, Cameron said. The impact on returns were significant this season, with a predicted loss of $2.80 per tray for SunGold Kiwifruit, he added. This was against a per tray loss of $1.68 last season (a tray held 30 fruit).

A June Zespri forecast for 2022/23 put return per tray prices at $10.25 to $11.75 for this season. The August forecast was revised to $10.02 per tray returns.

The June forecast per hectare return of between $141,000 and $161,000, was revised to $138,495 in August.

Beyond the impact on grower returns, these quality challenges were putting significant pressure on the company’s reputation for supplying consistent fruit quality. An industry-wide response was needed to solve the problem, Cameron said.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com