Kiwifruit price hits a record $8.30 a kg in December

Wednesday, 15 January 2020

Kiwifruit prices were at an all time high of $8.30 a kilogram last month.

Kiwifruit prices hit a record high in December and nearly double the price of a year earlier, according to Statistics NZ.

Kiwifruit sold for an average price of $8.30 a kilogram last month, up 32 per cent from November.

Stats NZ acting consumer prices manager James Griffin said that compared to $4.2 per kilogram in December 2018.

But Mark Mayston, a kiwifruit grower from the Bay of Plenty, said the local prices had little impact on his income.

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Kiwifruit Growers chief executive Nikki Johnson says the high prices could be due to less fruit in the previous season.

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'Kiwifruit grower profitability is driven by prices in the export markets as almost all of the fruit we grow is exported. Changes in the pricing on the domestic market have no impact on my business,' Mayston said.

Kiwifruit is in demand but the industry is struggling to find workers.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers chief executive Nikki Johnson said around 97 per cent of the national crop was exported.

The picking season for Kiwifruit runs from March to June and the December sales would have been the last fruit from last year's season.

The higher prices in December were possibly due to limited supply, she said.

'We did have a lower supply this year than we did the previous year, particularly for green fruit.'

New Zealand exports around 97 per cent of its yearly crop.

At this time of year New Zealand would normally see some imported Kiwifruit coming in from the United States and Italy, but there were lower numbers of imported fruit as well, Johnson said.

But the amount growers were paid for their export fruit driven by exports was increasing, she said.

'It has been a good year for growers.'

Zespri, the industry's marketing cooperative, announced in June that the last season returned more than $3 billion with 167.2 million trays of kiwifruit picked, packed and sold. That was up 21 per cent on 2018.

A total of 147 million trays of kiwifruit were shipped to more than 50 countries.

Agricultural economist Peter Fraser said Kiwifruit was a New Zealand success story, growing the annual crop on 'bugger all land', with the industry responding to consumer demand.

The Kiwifruit Growers website says there are about 2600 growers and 2900 registered orchards in the country, growing on 12,185 hectares of land.

Bay of Plenty grows 81 per cent of the country's crop. Zespri manages 30 per cent of the global supply.

Stats NZ said kiwifruit contributed to a 2 per cent increase in overall fruit and vegetable prices last month.

Prices of other seasonal fruit and vegetables also rose in December. Potatoes, apples and onions were the main contributors to the overall rise in prices.

The price of potatoes was up 18 per cent to $2.10 per kilogram, apples up 16 per cent to $3.80 and onions were up 9 per cent to $2.40.