The latest Zespri tender round has set new records for licence fees, with SunGold kiwifruit averaging just over $800,000 a hectare for the 350 hectares on offer this season.
This year’s tender also comprised 350ha of the new RubyRed crop licence on offer, while no organic SunGold licences were issued given current supply volumes getting sufficient.
The SunGold licence area was half that usually put out for tender and was down due to higher than expected yields on existing orchards and a need to maintain a balance between supply and demand to protect grower returns on the high earning crop.
This year’s values for the SunGold licences are a significant hike on last year’s, where the median value was $550,000 a hectare.
The 280ha of RubyRed taken up averaged $147,000 a hectare this year, also well up from last year’s $74,979 a hectare.
“This year’s tender has a wide range of values within the tender range compared to last year.”
But despite the high prices the areas offered were undersubscribed, with 324ha of the 350ha of SunGold taken up, and 280ha of the RubyRed. Last year’s SunGold subscription was oversubscribed by over 4 to one.
This year’s tender has a wide range of values within the tender range compared to last year.
SunGold’s median value of $801,000 a hectare sits against a minimum price of $451,950, compared to last season’s median-low range of $550,000-$525,000/ha.
The RubyRed average value of $147,000/ha sits against a minimum tender value of $44,217/ha.
Bidding numbers were also well down on both varieties, with SunGold receiving 268 bids this year, against 715 last year.
In a communication to growers, Zespri has noted balancing supply and demand remains a critical part of continuing to grow the crops’ value and will remain so as the company undertakes a review of its licence release programme.
Growers are to be consulted within coming months on the licence programme’s future and Zespri is continuing to seek feedback on the issue.
In coming weeks the marketer will be releasing further details outlining specifics of the tender process in terms of location and planting sizes.
