New Zealand apples set to beat 10-year target - FreshFruitPortal.com

New Zealand apples set to beat 10-year target

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New Zealand apples set to beat 10-year target

Another strong season for New Zealand's apple industry means the sector is likely to hit one of its major goals ahead of schedule, according to Nzherald.co.nz. manzanas_83829601 _ small

The publication reported the industry was set to hit its goal of NZ$1 billion (US$700 million) in export receipts earlier than the 10-year target of 2022.

The harvest is forecast to reach 551,000 metric tons (MT) this season, just beating the previous 2013 record of about 550,000MT.

Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive Alan Pollard said concerns about hailstorms late last year and early this year proved to be ill-founded.

"We are well on track for this $1 billion target that we have set ourselves and we will certainly achieve that earlier than anticipated," he was quoted as telling Nzherald.co.nz.

"We have had three good seasons in a row and we see ourselves as having a very sustainable growth path now."

New plantings, in terms of area planted, were growing at 5% a year, Pollard reportedly said.

"There is a large amount of investment going in. Something like 40 per cent of our trees are less than 10 years old, so a lot of the growth will come from the substantial amount of new plantings."

Export receipts from the apple trade came to NZ$536 million (US$374 million) in 2014, up 65% from the NZ$324 million (US$226 million) recorded in 2010. Returns per carton are up 30% in the same period.

New Zealand's biggest variety, Royal Gala, represents about one-third of apple exports. Braeburn remains a significant variety, Nzherald.co.nz reported. High-colour varieties of Royal Gala are sold in Asia, with newer varieties of New Zealand queen, rose and beauty.

"There are some varieties replacing others as we become more focused on Asia as a primary market for exports," Pollard was quoted as saying.

The story said the biggest individual markets were the U.S. and U.K., which take 40,000MT each.

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