Mr Apple and Bostock NZ have teamed up to exclusively grow and market Posy.
Bostock owner John Bostock said its very exciting to finally have enough volume to export because the apple has taken about 20 years to develop.
“We wanted to breed an apple which would be ready early for our Asian market. The Posy apple is harvested early February and ahead of most other NZ apple varieties.
It was bred in Havelock North by apple breeder David Cranwell who has been in the apple industry for 50 years.
“David saw the potential for a pink, sweet apple for the Asian market so we have worked together with Mr Apple to create NZ’s sweetest apple.”
The Posy apple’s parents are Rose and Royal Gala, both popular, strong-flavour apples bred in NZ.
“Teaming up with Mr Apple to exclusively grow this new apple variety means we can offer a wide range of customers throughout the market and take advantage of each grower’s strengths, especially our organic experience and offering,” Bostock said.
“This is the first year we have had any reasonable volumes of Posy to export and it’s great to be able to offer apples that are specifically tailored to the Asian palate.
“We are also adding value by creating a brand for this apple and supporting it with a lot of marketing material for our customers.”
The Chinese market is still small for Bostock and awareness of the organic category is developing.
New, exciting varieties are appealing in Asia and are helping grow the market there.
“Developing exclusive, high-quality apple varieties has been a big focus for Bostock NZ over recent years. Our Asian customers are really excited about the oncoming new varieties we have,” Bostock said.
And the country’s biggest apple exporter, T and G Global, says this season is looking rosy as warm summer temperatures and cooler autumn evenings bring rich colour and full flavour to the fruit.
Hundreds of orchard workers have descended on the orchards of Hawke’s Bay, Nelson and Otago to pick and pack apples, with total volumes for T and G expected to reach seven million cartons, up on last year’s volumes.
The buoyant apple industry is set to produce another bumper crop on the back of a growth strategy that will achieve a billion dollars in export sales by 2020, T and G chief operating officer Peter Landon-Lane said.
“Our apples are looking good in terms of colour, texture, eating quality and flavour and due to NZ’s superior breeding programmes our world-leading growing systems and post-harvest technology, it means only the highest quality fruit enters the market.”
About 95% of the crop will be picked and packed for international markets where premium prices are paid for T and G’s flagship, award-winning Jazz and Envy apples.
Jazz apples were born in the leafy orchards following a natural union of the Royal gala and braeburn varieties, he said.
Seventeen years later Jazz apples have become not only a NZ favourite but a global favourite sold in 60 countries and grown in 10 countries under a closely controlled, quality growing programme managed by T and G.
“Jazz and its equally successful sibling, Envy, are among the top five premium apples in the world with Jazz voted Britain’s tastiest apple in 2018 and Envy was voted the number one apple of choice by United States consumers last year.”
Traditionally, most of T and G’s apples were sold in the United Kingdom and US but that is changing as Asia and the Middle East emerge as key markets, making up half of its exports.
While spring threw some challenges for growers in Hawke’s Bay, delivering wet weather, warm summer temperatures moderated by the recent cooler nights have meant good fruit size and high-quality fruit.
In Nelson, a wet winter was followed by good pollination conditions in spring. However, since the new year, there has been very little rain meaning an earlier harvest start date in the area.
Otago weather has been favourable for apple growing with a good crop expected despite a few pockets of hail that caused some damage over Christmas and New Year.
“The harvest is in full swing this month including several orchards we have invested in over the last few years to ensure we will continue to meet global demand for our apples,” he said.
Envy is also grown in Chile, the US, Italy, France, Spain and South Korea.
Jazz is also grown in the UK, Europe, the US, Chile, South Africa and Australia. France is the second biggest producer of Jazz apples after NZ.
