This year’s crop has come through a wet season well — helped by a white cloth cover designed to maximise the sun’s ripening impact.
The crop looks solid, Borland said.
“We’re happy with the fruit size and the colour is improving all the time.”
Royal Gala, the first variety to be picked, is the highest-volume fruit for Mr Apple and a key earner.
It is a traditional variety but also has a redder premium variety and is Borland’s favourite apple.
NZ Queen is the core premium apple, especially popular in China.
Mr Apple packed 406,000 trays for export last season, up from 343,000 trays the year before.
Volumes are likely to be up again this year as the variety’s planted area reaches full maturity in the orchards.
Pink Lady, Diva and high-colour Fuji are also important premium apples and the group has high hopes for the new Dazzle variety.
Volumes of Dazzle are still enough only for sample orders but it will reach full export scale in the next three years.
Two more new varieties — red fruit for the Asian and Middle East markets — are likely to be launched this year.
Mr Apple exported 1.61 million trays of its own premium apples in the December year, down from 1.65m a year earlier.
Total Mr Apple-grown exports were steady at 3.54m trays, with traditional varieties making up 1.94m. Another 1.25m trays were exported for other growers.
New Mr Apple plantings are more and more premium varieties and the traditional apple likely to lose out could be the well-known braeburn.
“It’s been a stellar performer for us for many years but it is competing with the new varieties now.”
It will still be produced in good quantities for the traditional European and United Kingdom markets plus some into the United States but it is not a seller in the Asian and Middle East markets that now buy about 54% of the group’s exports.
Gross apple production this season is expected to be consistent with five-year average volumes and Borland hopes that depending on pack-out success (80% last year), export volumes will be slightly ahead of last year.
Horticulture (Mr Apple) is the biggest of the three Scales divisions, making up $228m of the total sales of $399m last year and $39m of the group’s operating earnings (Ebitda) of $62m.
Directors are guiding the market to Ebitda in the $58m to $65m range this year.
They have also refreshed the group strategy to put a greater focus on pure-agri-business, playing to its strengths of operating fully vertically integrated businesses, export-led and adding value to its Chinese relationships.
Businesses not well aligned with those strengths could be sold, they said.
