Season’s First New Zealand Kiwifruit en Route to Japan

On March 20, Zespri announced via its official website that the first 2,500 metric tons (over 600,000 trays) of this season’s SunGold kiwifruit had left the Port of Tauranga bound for Japan, marking the start of Zespri’s 2023 shipping program. The Southampton Star, the vessel carrying the fruit, is scheduled to pull into Tokyo in early April before traveling onward to Kobe.

This season, Zespri is expected to deliver over 145 million trays of Green, SunGold and RubyRed kiwifruit to more than 50 countries and regions around the world. From this total, 72 million trays will be delivered by 53 charter vessels, of which 41 will head for Asia, seven for the Mediterranean, three for Northern Europe and two for North America’s west coast. The remaining 73 million trays are scheduled to be shipped by general container vessels.

According to Jason Te Brake, Zespri’s acting chief global supply officer, the start of the new season represents a reset for the industry, given a very challenging 2022 and a tough start to 2023 brought about by adverse weather events including the severe damage caused to Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Brake further added that demand for Zespri kiwifruit remains strong and lower fruit volumes alongside more labor available this season will enable Zespri to focus more on quality improvement.

Image: Zespri

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.