Zespri released its November forecasts for the 2023/24 season. It includes Green, Organic Green and RubyRed expected to return per tray at a record high, as well as Zespri SunGold cultivars ahead of last year’s season.
Green is the standout as the most current forecast of Green per tray returning at an all-time high of $9.00. It’s a significant increase from last year’s closing Orchard Gate Return (OGR) of $5.78 per tray. In the case of Zespri Organic Green, the projected price per tray will be $12.00 an increase from the OGR for last season’s finale of $8.68.
The forecast for Zespri RubyRed the average OGR per tray is expected to be $26.10 which is higher than last year’s last OGR of $22.27. For the forecast, SunGold Kiwifruit returns are at $12.35 which is a significant increase over last year’s OGR final of $9.97 The forecast return on Organic SunGold are also up to $14.15. Forecast returns for November have increased over all categories of the forecast for August, primarily because of the improved quality of fruit this year.
Zespri President Dan Mathieson says the results are a reflection of the growing and strong market for Zespri Kiwifruit, as being the enormous effort that this industry has put into increasing the quality of fruit this year.
“It’s extremely satisfying that we can share these positive results and demonstrate to growers that their work ethic and commitment to the highest quality of produce is rewarded by markets. It’s especially satisfying after an extremely difficult period of time when farmers were under such a huge stress while juggling constant costs, the growing labour shortage, changes to regulations and the current climate.
“We’ve been receiving positive feedback from our customers all through the year about the increase in quality of the fruit. Our efforts have been greatly appreciated by them. They constantly tell us that they would like to have more of our Zespri Kiwifruit in the next season. It’s great that we have trust in our products and be able to observe this growing rising demand.
“Our task of improving the quality of our products isn’t over yet and we’re now having an intense focus on the next season. We need keep this in mind in the years to come in which we’re expecting to see a bigger crop, and possibly our largest year on year expansion in terms of quantity. With the conditions we’ve had this year, we’re going to take everyone from the sector to play their bit to build upon the good changes we’ve implemented – which is essential to return greater value to the farmers. Our growers be sure of is that any fruit is available for sale with the proper conditions can be sold and will do so well.”
The full details of the forecast for November 2023/24 per tray and per hectare of returns in all areas are provided in the table below.
For more information:
Anna Cross
Zespri
Tel: +64 27 316 7777
Email: anna.cross@zespri.com
www.zespri.com