Fruit quality was high throughout the season, which runs from December to February, despite some January rain, and export prices also rose to an average $16 a kilogram.
Summerfruit NZ chief executive Marie Dawkins said export volumes have more than doubled in the past two years with increased planting and the domestic market also hit a record 1800t this season compared to just 1000t in 2013. She’s forecasting volumes would hit 5000t within the next four to five years.
Cherries account for 65% of New Zealand summer fruit exports which include peaches, apricots, nectarines, and plums. “Cherries are the star, it’s just going gangbusters,” Dawkins said.
The cherry industry worldwide was enjoying good growth, particularly from the rising middle class in Asian countries, she said.
New Zealand’s export statistics show rapid growth to China which has become the second-largest export market in just seven years, behind Taiwan which has fallen from 80% of the export market to 32% though volumes to that country were still nearly double what they were in the 2012/13 season.
China was now 29% of total export volumes, with Thailand at 12%, South Korea 10% and Vietnam was also one of the fastest-growing markets at 8%.
Nearly all of New Zealand’s export cherries were grown in Central Otago and a Central Otago labour market survey last year said cherry plantings in the area were set to increase by 34% over the next five years. Around two thirds of those new plantings would be in the Cromwell area and would impact on tight accommodation in the region.
Cherry production was characterised by a short-term, high-peak load compared with other types of fruit which required workers over a longer period, the survey report said.
Jones Family Orchard was one of the larger growers in Central Otago, with 55 hectares of its 70ha planted in cherries. This year it was the first in the world to trial a prototype fruit sorter from United States-based Packing House Services, which specialises in small fruit equipment.
The new machine, which sells for around US$300,000, shifts the cherries on a conveyor belt sorting them by colour, size, softness, splits, blemishes and moulds with infra-red cameras.
Electronic sorters that accurately size and sort for internal and external defects have been around for other fruits for some years but the problem with cherries has been the stem, Jones Family Orchard co-owner Michael Jones said. It was hard for the sorters to manipulate the stems so that the cameras could see all sides of the fruit.
The prototype overcomes that problem, allowing for 360 degree photos of each cherry from three different camera lenses.
The new machine had some teething problems, Jones said, but they were sorted by the end of the season. The orchard had been able to drop its seasonal staff numbers in the packhouse by 30 through the new technology, leading to considerable savings.
“It’s not just about the wage costs, it’s about the quality. If we can have a guaranteed box time after time we can maintain that premium over other countries and grow volumes at the same time,” Jones said.
