It was the second time such an outing had been held at this time of year, a busy period for the industry, which exported $116 million worth of the crop last year, double that of 2015.
Representatives of four different government departments, regional councils, Horticulture NZ and the Horticulture Export Authority visited one growing operation as well as three large exporters and heard how they were working to supply more overseas customers during a seasonal window the big Dutch and United States exporters couldn’t fill.
More than 85% of the onions grown in NZ were sent to 45 different markets, with those in Asia quickly catching up to traditional markets in Europe.
Indonesia and Taiwan were growing strongly with access to Vietnam finalised last year and hopes that China might soon follow.
ONZ chief executive Mick Ahern said the industry would like to boost Asian market sales further because with less distance to ship that enabled NZ exporters to spread sales to markets over a longer period of time from January to September. It also helped in new capital equipment investment decisions.
He described ONZ as an “enabler” for the industry, maintaining and creating more market access as well as signalling any quality or regulatory issues back to growers.
About three-quarters of the industry’s total volume was represented on the ONZ board, supported by a commodity levy on growers and a voluntary marketing levy on exporters that had a more than 90% uptake.
ONZ aimed to further develop export markets, improve productivity and quality and invest in innovation but saw risks to the future of the industry in the high NZ dollar, ocean freight rates, the introduction of pests and diseases, food safety concerns and urban sprawl on growing land.
“Above all else growers have got to do a top job and we have the track record to show this is achieved year on year,” Ahern said.
