The world's largest marketer of kiwifruit, Zespri, just announced it exceeded its goal set in 2015 of reaching $4.5 billion by 2025 this year by selling a record 220.9 million trays of kiwifruit and seeing a return of $5 billion in global sales this 2024/25 season. 

According to a press release, only direct returns to the New Zealand industry reached more than $3 billion for the first time in 2024/25, with Total Fruit and Service Payments spread across New Zealand’s growing regions, including the Bay of Plenty, Northland, the East Coast, Nelson and the Waikato.

Zespri’s non-New Zealand Supply sales have also performed well, with sales of $652.4 million and 26.5 million trays sold.

Zespri CEO Jason Te Brake said the company has increased both volume and value in its key markets despite downward pressure in the category, and surpassed a significant milestone in reaching $5 billion in global fruit sales, "exceeding our longstanding sales goal set a decade ago."

"That’s a mark of pride for our industry, and reflects the strong demand we continue to see for our fruit and the efforts the whole industry has put in to focus on providing another high-quality fruit crop."

He also said that at a per-hectare level, returns are up at a record level for Green, Organic Green and Sweet Green varieties. 

“Our corporate results are also positive, with our net profit after tax excluding licence revenue reaching a record $79.8 million, and our New Zealand Supply segment delivering a profit of $56.4 million in 2024/25, up from the $10.2 million loss in 2023/24 on the back of the larger crop, strong value in market and a focus on greater overhead efficiencies."