Despite question marks over United States’ tariffs, kiwifruit growers have enjoyed a highly promising season.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated chief executive Colin Bond says the country’s largest kiwifruit harvest is now largely complete, with more than 215 million trays picked off orchards.

“Both the growing season and harvest went relatively smoothly, with good growing conditions supporting crop production.

“Growers are now eagerly awaiting the prices in markets that they will achieve for their hard work,” said Bond.

While it will be some time until forecasts can be made for the 2025/26 crop, he says the industry predicts a 17% increase of total supply between 2024 and 2029.

Potential tariffs on exports, including kiwifruit, to the United States remain on the NZKGI radar.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated CEO Colin Bond. Photo / Supplied

“While confidence in demand for our kiwifruit remains strong, we recognise that the current environment we are operating in is highly volatile.

“The United States is a country that we are launching our kiwifruit into, and despite the current uncertainty, there is a long-term strategy to have a consistent supply of fruit on shelves there.”

Zespri chief executive Jason Te Brake said kiwifruit marketer Zespri took steps to prepare for the tariff, working with the New Zealand Government and partners in the US “to ensure we navigate it effectively and minimise the impact on our growers and to continue to grow the market”.

“While it’s unfortunate, we take a long-term view of key markets with a focus on investing to build our brand along with demand and value in the category over time, along with investing to develop new markets to create new opportunities for growers and the industry.

Growth market

“North America is an important growth market for Zespri with strong demand, and we’re committed to growing it further,” he said.

“Sales are tracking well this season and demand is stronger than we thought it would be.”

Te Brake said Zespri’s 2025/26 sales programmes have started well, particularly in Europe and North America.

In its indicative June forecast, Te Brake said Zespri was “on track to deliver strong value to growers in another record crop year”.

This includes average per hectare returns for Green, Sweet Green, Organic Green and Organic SunGold Kiwifruit now forecast to exceed last year’s record returns.

“Each season we supply customers and consumers in more than 50 markets around the world with great-tasting high-quality fruit as part of our mission to supply Zespri kiwifruit 12 months of the year.”

Te Brake said the majority of New Zealand-grown fruit was exported, with the balance available on the domestic market.

Harvest

The New Zealand harvest usually starts in mid-February, peaks in mid-April and runs until June, with fruit shipped to market between March and November.

“In addition, we have our Zespri Global Supply operations, where we partner with growers in Italy, France, Japan, Korea and Greece who produce kiwifruit during the Northern Hemisphere growing season, with this sold in the non-New Zealand season,” said Te Brake.

“This allows Zespri to have counter-seasonal supply in place to complement the New Zealand season and drive value for New Zealand growers.

Top crop

“This 2025/26 season we have a crop of more than 200 million trays from New Zealand, with more than half of this already shipped to market. We supplied 196.8 million trays from New Zealand in 2024/25.” 

Zespri was expecting to deliver 13.2 million of these trays to customers in the United States this season (up from 11.3m last season).

“The US is our sixth-largest market in terms of volume (following China, Japan, Spain, Germany and Korea) and we also launched RubyRed in the US for the first time this year with positive feedback from customers.”

A grower vote last year saw more than 90% support the expansion of Zespri Global Supply, approving the allocation of up to 420 additional hectares of SunGold kiwifruit per year over six years across Italy, France, Japan, South Korea and Greece.

Previously it was capped at 5000ha, which was fully allocated.

Zespri CEO Jason Te Brake. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media

Te Brake said the move reflects the ability of the kiwifruit industry to come together on pressing issues with a focus on delivering strong grower returns and maintaining Zespri’s position as leaders in a competitive category.

“Our industry is creating significant value for growers and grower shareholders and the communities they support, and the outlook is positive with strong demand.

“We are currently developing our 2035 strategy to set our sights on the next 10 years and how we ensure we are best positioned to deliver the greatest value to New Zealand growers.”