Last updated 17:45, May 24 2018
GERARD HUTCHING/STUFF
Zespri kiwifruit is bought in gift packs and shared within families.
Zespri is closer to launching a 'Made in China' kiwifruit.
Zespri is confident that by next year it will be able to sell kiwifruit grown in China under its own coveted marketing label.
After several years of trials, the Tauranga-based marketer says it is working with growers who are prepared to sign up to Zespri's strict quality control standards.
"The past few years have been a research focus, making sure we understand all the elements of the supply chain whereas this year we're gearing up to say 'how can we push towards getting it to that quality and ultimately a Zespri sticker on the fruit'," external relations manager Nick Kirton said.
Zespri kiwifruit is bought in gift packs and shared within families.
"They will have to have all the assurances that the New Zealand systems have - GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) certification, traceability. There's a lot of work to do."
The long term goal is that the bulk of northern hemisphere supplies for China would come from fruit grown in China.
Workers inspect early flowers at a kiwifruit orchard in Hunan province.
Initially the varieties for what has been dubbed as "Project Bamboo" will be green and red, but gold is likely to come later.
"We're evaluating how well gold is growing here. They're not our gold varieties and some of the larger gold plantations here are protected by plant variety rights, so we wouldn't use them. It's for that reason we've gone with green and red and with local varieties."
China and Japan are running neck and neck for the title of Zespri's number one export market. Sales in China should reach $505 million to the end of the financial year in June and turnover is expected to double in four years' time.
The scale of Zespri's kiwifruit in China can be gauged by the amount of product in this Shanghai coolstore, a fraction of what will be sold this year.
China is also the world's largest kiwifruit producer, with about 180,000 hectares planted, compared with New Zealand's 13,500 ha of orchard.
Zespri has identified Xiaxia County within Henan Province as the region where it will contract with growers. It is the home of kiwifruit, which grow wild in the nearby mountains.
"We will have a production hub system, we have identified a packhouse and we will bring over experts from New Zealand," Kirton said.
Grower Li Puzhou said he had worked with Zespri for two years.
"Their attitude and their technique really has impressed me a lot. Zespri's involvement is helping us to lift our production."
Although officially Zespri's sought after SunGold variety is not planted in China, illegal plantings were started in 2012.
Global production manager Shane Max said the plantings did not present a big threat. They were being grown by small growers and quality was poor.
Kirton agreed, saying it depended on the scale of the plantings.
"If a larger company tried to use our plant variety rights, then there would be avenues you could take to deal with that, but if there's a grower in the back of Hubai who has half a hectare of Gold3 [SunGold] and they sell it in their local village market then it's not going to have the same impact," Kirton said.
Zespri was investigating contracting growers to grow SunGold to its specifications.
"We think that our gold will grow well here, it's a bigger fruit and consumers typically want larger fruit. The green we've gone with this year is one that handles the supply chain well, and its taste is consistent. We haven't commercialised any reds in New Zealand so it's a good chance to test a bit more how the Chinese consumers react to them."