They will be largely in Italy, with 1200ha allocated there and a further 600ha still to be determined. Zespri has growers with 1600ha of kiwifruit in Italy and 200ha in France.
Zespri chief operating officer Simon Limmer said the grower model for the SunGold fruit would differ significantly from that used in New Zealand.
Here growers were required to buy a licence through a tender round with the latest tranche of 400ha licensed crop selling for about $180,000 a hectare. Three further tranches of 400ha were to be released over the coming three seasons.
“But it is quite a different process in Europe. We really want to get supply lifted quickly there and are not seeking a licence fee up front from growers.
“Instead Zespri will be taking an increased commission at sale. We did not want to slow up the process of getting the fruit supply growth there,” he said.
The main SunGold growing area in Italy was the Latina region in the hinterland of Rome which offered similar growing conditions to the western Bay of Plenty, albeit on heavier soils and with cooler winters.
Limmer said the need for 12-month supply of the fruit was critical if Zespri was to maintain the momentum of sales growth achieved in recent years with a fruit that had found strong appeal in both European and Asian markets.
“The Italian growers have the benefit of being on the doorstep of our major European markets and currency movement is not the issue for them as it is for us here. They are, however, also six weeks shipping from our key Asian markets.”
While Zespri could supply from NZ for six to eight months, the remaining four months opened a window for competition to fill the gap or for consumers to switch to another fruit.
Productivity levels differed significantly between Italian and NZ kiwifruit orchards, despite similar sized areas averaging 3-4ha.
SunGold production in Italy was just over four million trays from 800ha, putting productivity per hectare at about a third what Zespri’s NZ orchardists were achieving.
A further 850ha would hit full production in coming years.
Combined with the new 1200ha, production was expected to quadruple to about 15m trays in the next five years, plus production from the additional 600ha to be allocated.
“We are probably three years away from full production.”
He acknowledged that over time Zespri had accepted the differences in production and practices between Italy and NZ.
“Our philosophy is pretty clear now. We are seeking a sustainable basis of growing and harvesting. We certainly do not pretend to know everything there is to know about growing fruit in Italy.
“It has been a two-way street. We learnt a lot about Psa management from the Italians. And we have a global technical support team to help determine best practice for growers. There is a lot of cross-pollination there.”
The new plantings would go in over the next two years with the 600ha destined for planting elsewhere in Europe by 2019-20.
