There is a lower than expected kiwifruit crop yield this season due to weather conditions. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Challenging weather conditions have resulted in a lower than expected kiwifruit crop yield this season.
Kiwifruit marketing company Zespri said it now expected to export around 136 million trays of green, gold and red kiwifruit - down from the 171m trays exported last year.
And it said the crop could reduce even further as orchard assessments were completed following the April hail storm in Te Puke.
Zespri said it was expecting export volumes of green kiwifruit to be the lowest in the last 20 years with about 42m trays heading offshore - down from 61m last year.
Company chief executive Dan Mathieson said it had been an extremely challenging growing season in New Zealand, with growers affected by multiple severe weather events.
"Despite the challenges, our Zespri teams around the world are working hard with our global customers to get the best possible outcome this season."
He said while it was disappointing lower volumes would make it more challenging for customers to access Zespri kiwifruit, it provided an opportunity for the industry to focus on lifting fruit quality this season and to prepare for increased volumes in 2024.
Last year's season was marred by quality issues which affected payouts for some growers.
Mathieson said a huge effort had gone into improving quality right across the supply chain. "Including making sure we had a really good quality harvest, and that's been supported by the initiatives that have been established as part of the industry's Quality Action Plan.
"While it's still early in the season, it's been promising to hear the consistent feedback across our key markets that our initial shipments are showing much better quality out-turns this season."
Supply was expected to lift next season as growers rebounded from this season's weather affected yields, he said.
"More of our licensed SunGold kiwifruit hectares will come into maturity and we expect this to continue in the years ahead with New Zealand supply alone forecast to reach almost 230 million trays in 2027/28."