Where Is ZESPRI® Kiwifruit Exported To?
ZESPRI® Kiwifruit is sold to over 60 countries around the world. We break down our markets into the following areas: Europe, Asia, Japan (this is separated from the rest of Asia as it is a big market for ZESPRI) and the Rest of the World, which includes the United States and other developing markets.
ZESPRI® Kiwifruit Volume Sales by Region
| Europe |
52.5 million trays |
| Japan |
16.4 million trays |
| Asia |
18.4 million trays |
| North America |
5.9 million trays |
Where Is ZESPRI® Kiwifruit Grown?
How Many Kiwifruit Orchards Are There In New Zealand?
ZESPRI currently has 3,077 registered orchards to 2,754 growers. Nearly half of the orchards are between 2 and 5 hectares in size.
What Percentage of New Zealand's Horticultural Exports is ZESPRI® Kiwifruit?
In the year to December 2007, kiwifruit exports amounted to 60.6% of all fruit and nut exports, and 27.3% of all horticultural exports from New Zealand.
Source: Statistics New Zealand
How Was ZESPRI® GOLD Kiwifruit Developed?
The story of ZESPRI® GOLD Kiwifruit begins in the late 1970s. Tiny Actinidia chinensis kiwifruit seeds were collected from Beijing Botanical Gardens, the Guangxi Institute of Botany in Guilin and from wild plants in South and Central China. They were planted at New Zealand’s Te Puke Research Orchard.
ZESPRI® GOLD Kiwifruit is the child of a mother plant from Beijing with yellow flesh and great flavour; and a male plant from the Guilin family, chosen because its sisters all produced large succulent fruit. In 1992, a single vine from this partnership was planted in block 37 – row 1 – bay 16 – position A. Not surprisingly, its name was Hort16A. For the next five years, Hort16A was nurtured and evaluated for taste, colour, size, storage and shelf-life.
In 1998, 4000 trays of Hort16A were exported for the first time. Each year since then, the world’s best kiwifruit growers have planted and harvested more ZESPRI® GOLD Kiwifruit.
What Percentage of The World's Kiwifruit Comes From New Zealand?
New Zealand is not the biggest producer of kiwifruit in the world, but ZESPRI is the biggest marketer in the world with over 20% of the market share year round.
How Is ZESPRI® Kiwifruit Delivered To The Markets?
Every year ZESPRI sends tens of millions of trays of ZESPRI® Kiwifruit out to its markets on ships, 80% goes out on charter vessels - these go to our main markets - Japan, Asia and Europe. The other 20% goes in container vessels.
What Is ZESPRI's Position On Genetic Engineering?
ZESPRI will not fund research, market or have in its inventory any genetically modified kiwifruit. ZESPRI supports Research and Development as a key component of the New Zealand kiwifruit industry’s future success but chooses not to pursue genetically modified kiwifruit as a new fruit product.
Kiwifruit is purchased and consumed because it is a healthy, enjoyable food. The image of New Zealand as ‘clean, green’ and therefore ‘safe’ is considered to be a benefit to kiwifruit sales particularly in Europe, and also in Japan. It is ZESPRI’s view that consumer opinion and perceptions will limit the acceptability of genetic modification technology in the foreseeable future.