2 JULY 2009 - There has been a lot of media comment on Turners and Growers calling for deregulation of the kiwifruit industry.

• One of NZKGI’s key focus areas is the retention of the SPE industry structure.
• Growers will determine what happens to our industry.
• In order to keep growers informed this is a new section on our website we have created with copies of media releases, a copy of the article titled “What went wrong in the Pipfruit Industry” and other useful information.

The SPE has allowed the kiwifruit industry to experience strong growth since 1995, the value of FOB’s kiwifruit exports have increased from $321 million in 1995 to $871 million in 2008. In comparison apple exports have remained unchanged from $344 million in 1995 to $345 million in 2008. (Source: New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd’s FreshFacts 2008 booklet).

29 JUNE 2009 - When we opened our newspaper this morning there was an article in the NZ Herald titled Putting the Squeeze on Last Monopoly. A copy of these articles are available for download below. There was a similar article in The Dominion Post.

The articles state that Turners and Growers has formally called on the government to strip ZESPRI Group Limited of its monopoly status and also states that a position paper and an independent economic report have been provided to ministers and party leaders. Click here for a copy of these papers.

We are analysing these papers.

The following media statement was made by NZKGI today:

No Support for Turners and Growers from Kiwifruit Growers

Peter Ombler, President of NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated, rejected comments made earlier today for the kiwifruit industry structure to be changed.

“New Zealand kiwifruit growers will ultimately decide the future of this industry and there is generally no grower support for deregulation,” said Peter Ombler. “NZ growers are the owners of the kiwifruit industry with over $3.8 billion invested and the majority of growers are shareholders of ZESPRI.”

“Many growers remember their poor returns a couple decades ago when there were multi exporters before growers made the decision to move to the current industry structure with ZESPRI as their marketer. In a recent survey 84% of growers wanted the current structure retained for their continued success.”

“Ironically many kiwifruit growers who are also apple growers are most vocal in their support for the current industry structure, following on from their experiences of the deregulation of the apple industry.”

Turners and Growers is one of the industry’s 2,710 growers and runs one of the industry’s 71 packhouses. Mr Ombler confirmed that the information prepared by Turners and Growers will be reviewed.

Finally our advice from Government, this is not on the Government’s agenda.

Other media statements will be sent out in future editions of the Weekly Update.

2 JULY 2009 - Kiwifruit New Zealand has just released the collaborative Marketing Report for 2008/2009.

• There were 26 different programmes from 14 Collaborative Marketers.
• The programs Net Fruit Return was been indexed against a comparable ZESPRI market.
• The Collaborative Marketing programmes Net Fruit Returns for the 2008/09 period averaged $7.01 compared to the comparable ZESPRI returns of $6.80.
• The most successful Collaborative Marketing programme is a ZESPRI GREEN Organic Class 1 programme in Germany.
• A copy of the report is available by clicking on the attachment below.
  

• 3 Nominations were received for 2 Director vacancies, the elections closed 3 July.
• Andrew Fenton (Kiwifruit and Avocado Grower) and Brian Gargiulo (Tomato Grower) have been re-elected.
• Jeff Wesley (Turners and Growers) was unsuccessful.
• To see a copy of the HortNZ media release please click here.

For those of you who get the Bay of Plenty Times last Tuesday 10 November there was an article in it with the heading: “Information Misleading”.

Here’s a summary of the article:

• Murray Malone, ENZA development manager, was reported as saying ZESPRI is giving growers misleading information about the size and keeping qualities of ENZA Red kiwifruit.
• Murray was also reported as saying ENZA Red fruit grown in China had achieved weights of up to 100 grams, some of it grown with the plant hormone CPPU and some without.
• The article states that CPPU is banned for use on kiwifruit in New Zealand and that NZ grown kiwifruit exported to the EU must reach a minimum size of 70 grams for class one and 65 grams for class two.
• The article reports that Mr Malone said kiwifruit growers at recent ZESPRI field days had been told the ENZA Red fruit would not reach export size if grown in New Zealand and did not store well.

Interesting
We came across a scientific report from the Sichuan Provincial Natural Resources Research Institute, Chengdu, Sichuan, China called “Selection of a New Red-fleshed Kiwifruit Cultivar Hongyang”.

In that report it says: Mean weight per fruit is 92.5 kg (after application of plant hormone CPPU), and 54.4 g (without CPPU).

A copy of the report is available for download below.