2020-21 export market review

SUMMERFRUIT UPDATE

2020-21 export market review

By Craig Hall : Chairman of the Summerfruit Exporters Committee

The 2020–21 summerfruit export season was always going to be a challenging one, before it even started.

The challenges of labour for growers, as well as the limited capacity of airfreight, was well known before the season. But what couldn’t be predicted was the impact of the weather on the crops reducing the volume of fruit exported, particularly cherries.

Cherries

Unfortunately, Marlborough was affected in early December by rain, which meant there was no fruit available for export this season. Central Otago’s export cherry harvest started in early December. Through December the export volumes of early varieties were very good. Export pricing and returns to growers were above previous years, even with the impact of higher freight costs than previous years. Sadly, significant rain events on 1 to 2 January, and again on 5 January, changed the season completely. An export crop forecast at 6,500 tonnes was reduced significantly and would end up being a total of 2,508 tonnes. The damage from rain not only reduced the volume, but also significantly affected the general quality of our export fruit. The feeling in most markets was that New Zealand fruit was not in as much demand this year as it has been in previous years. The Chinese New Year holiday demand from Asian markets never picked up, which meant prices for the late season fruit didn’t increase either.

The reduced cherry crop volume meant the airfreight capacity wasn’t put under the pressure it would have been if the volume had been 6,500 tonnes. But the labour situation would have prevented 6,500 tonnes being harvested this year. The labour situation, and in turn the demand for airfreight capacity, will be continuing issues over the foreseeable future. With the export cherry crop set to double to a forecast 13,000 to 15,000 tonnes in the next five years, these issues will be of concern for exporters.

Apricots

A record low apricot crop of only 115 tonnes was exported this past season. Down from 500 tonnes exported the

Rain-affected cherries

season before, this was mainly again because of adverse weather at flowering, but also rain during the season meant a lot of fruit wasn’t up to export standard. Australia continues to be the dominant market with 79% of the volume going to this market.

Nectarines, peaches and plums

The volume of nectarines, peaches and plums exported also reduced this year. This was due to the smaller crop as well as quality and airfreight issues.

Conclusion

In summary, it was a very tough export season. Anyone reading this article could take it as quite a negative outlook. It is not intentional, but reflects the reality of one season in review.

But it also has to be put into context. Our export industry is now dominated by cherries grown in Central Otago, and the rain the region received this year was out of the norm. Growers and exporters deal with rain events nearly every season, but just not the volume in the short period received this year. New Zealand exports the best cherries in the world, and the market will still be there to demand good quality New Zealand cherries next season.

However, this doesn’t take away the challenges that we are facing. Labour and airfreight availability are going to continue to impact the export strategy in the near future.