New Zealand’s leading kiwifruit exporter sees a robust start to the 2024-2025 season, with record returns driven by favorable growing conditions and strategic global supply management.
Zespri, New Zealand’s leading kiwifruit company, has projected record per-hectare returns for the 2024-2025 season across all categories, particularly for Green and Organic Green varieties. This optimistic forecast follows a strong season start, with favorable growing conditions leading to increased yields and a competitive edge in global markets.
The company released its first full forecast for the upcoming season , highlighting the impact of effective early-season strategies in meeting consumer demand. Zespri’s Chief Executive Officer, Jason Te Brake, emphasized that a solid beginning was crucial for managing a significantly larger crop of over 190 million trays this year. “The industry put a lot of work into getting off to a really strong start to the season to meet early season demand, and that’s set us up well in a year where we have a lot more fruit to sell,” Te Brake stated.
In response to growing competition, particularly from summer fruits, Zespri’s global supply strategy has become increasingly vital. This strategy has involved working with offshore growers for over two decades to ensure a consistent counter-seasonal supply that complements the New Zealand harvest, a point Te Brake underscored in the report.
As a grower-owned company, Zespri’s global presence is extensive, with a team of 850 employees spread across New Zealand, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The company works alongside 2,800 local growers and 1,500 offshore growers to supply kiwifruit to more than 50 international markets. In the 2023-2024 period, Zespri supplied 164.2 million trays of kiwifruit and generated global operating revenue of 4.21 billion NZ dollars (2.59 billion U.S. dollars), according to a Xinhua report.
This season’s promising outlook, driven by improved growing conditions and robust market strategies, reinforces Zespri’s ongoing commitment to delivering high-quality kiwifruit to consumers worldwide.
