New Zealand's apple export season is running later than normal after a delayed flowering stage, but Pipfruit NZ said the campaign was shaping up well with a large crop expected.

Royal Gala will be one of the first key varieties to be harvested around mid-February, with volumes to accelerate in the following weeks.

The grower body's business development manager Gary Jones told www.freshfruitportal.com a few incidents of hail had caused some challenges for producers in certain subregions, but overall the fruit was on a good track.

"We've got some big crops and they're sizing up very quickly at the moment through January and into February - I think we'll be a bit later than last year in terms of harvest," he said.

"There's no perfect season but it's looking quite promising at the moment."

Registered plantings for export are up around 3% on last year, and continued expansion is likely to be seen 'over the next three to four years'.

"3% in terms of hectares is only around 300 hectares, but it takes two or three years before you have a block which is ready for export, so there's always a lag," Jones said.

"If no one planted a tree there would still be growth over the next two or three years."

Jones also said the industry was seeing significant new proprietary varieties, which were generally focused on specific customers and markets.

"It's becoming much more attuned and aligned with supply chains and making sure that people are developing relationships and supply channels," he said.

"Pretty much everything going in the ground is all proprietary - I would be very surprised if there is any significant volume of nonproprietary varieties going in.

"I think the new transition where we're heading now is aligning these new varieties and tightening the supply chain so that we're very much customer-focused with them and giving exclusivity, guaranteed quality supply, and supporting that with packaging and promotional materials."

'Shining light' of Asia

In terms of markets, the Pipfruit NZ representative said Europe would likely be 'tough' this season - partly as a result of the Russian ban and a strong local production causing oversupply issues - and focus would largely be on Asia and North America.

"What we see as a shining light at the moment is Asia, and I think we will continue to focus on developing our relationships there," Jones said.

"We have some competitive advantages on shipping into Asia, and again we're focused on the variety mixes that we're producing here in New Zealand.

"The strategy will be to look at the global markets, to look at supply into those markets and to make sure that we're making sales. So it's pretty simple, and it's the same strategy that we've had for a while now - feeding our own back yard rather than sending it the whole way round the world."

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www.freshfruitportal.com