Apple Bytes - New Zealand Apple Newsletter
Issue 3: 1 February 2009
Intended for Recipient Only.
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NZ Crop Profile 17.2m TCE's
Exporters from the Market Panel meet yesterday for Agfirst’s announcement of the NZ Apple crop profile. National Crop profile for 2009 is expected to be 17.2m tce’s, up 16.5% on 2008 figures. Quality looks excellent. Fruit is clean and has good dry matter. (High dry matter = high storage). Of the 17.2m tce’s -10.86m cartons is expected to come from Hawkes Bay, with 5.16m cartons from Nelson. Royal Gala volumes steady, however fruit size profile expected to be larger than 2008. Braeburn volumes recovering from last year’s frost up 29%, but not back to 2007 levels. Braeburn is reported to be best quality and export productivity in 2009. Fuji noted a 24% increase on last year’s volume, mostly due to young trees coming on line. NZ Rose also had an increase by 26.2% due to such a clean crop in 2009 – hence more available at export quality. | Points
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Fruit Size
National Fruit size predications looking as follows at present:
- Royal Gala #112
- Braeburn #104
- Fuji #87
- NZ Rose #87
- NZ Queen #96
- NZ Beauty #100
- Jazz #110
- Granny Smith #102
Volume by Variety
| Volume | TCE's |
|---|---|
| Royal Gala | 5,800,000 |
| Braeburn | 5,200,000 |
| Fuji | 1,700,000 |
| NZ Rose | 483,000 |
| NZ Queen | 321,500 |
| Granny Smith | 449,000 |
| Pacific Beauty | 173,000 |
| Pink Lady | 547,000 |
| Other Apples | 464,000 |
| Jazz | 1,260,000 |
| Pears | 318,000 |
Anticipated harvest dates
Harvest dates should follow a similar trend to last season as follows:
- NZ Beauty 10 Feb
- Royal Gala 17-24 Feb
- Red Delicious 15 March
- NZ Queen 20 March
- Braeburn 26 March
- NZ Rose 01 April
- Granny Smith 10 April
We will keep you updated regularly with our fortnightly newsletter.
Don't forget that you can view our NZ Apple newsletters on our website www.nzfreshfruits.com as well as previous years.
Apple Pricing
Historically prices have opened high for the first weeks, and then come-back and stabilized.
We expect to have finalized prices for you by 05 February for Royal Gala. As you can appreciate we don't want to go out with buoyant pricing at the moment – instead we will quote you once prices are confirmed for week 08, and 09 loadings.
Royal Gala looking to ship from 19th February onwards.
The NZD vs USD is currently sitting at 0.53 today. At this stage industry is optimistic that 2009 we have a good crop and the market situation will be stable.
Globally, the impact of the economic downturn was unknown, but data showed that in the US, there had been a 3.7% drop in the restaurant trade, but people were eating at home, and this meant fruit and vegetables sales were up 10%.
Shipping Lines
Royal Gala shipping from 19th Onwards.
This season we will be utilizing the services of PIL shipping lines and MSC Lines.
| PIL Lines | Napier ETD | |
|---|---|---|
| Cal.Mercury | V226 | 21 Feb |
| Kota Pemata | V018 | 28 Feb |
| MOL Mauao | V062 | 07 Mar |
| Kota Pelangi | V112 | 14 Mar |
| MSC Lines | Napier ETD | |
|---|---|---|
| MSC Jeanne | V907 | 22 Feb |
| MSC Basel | V908 | 01 Mar |
| MSC Krittika | V909 | 08 Mar |
| MSC Antwerp | V910 | 15 Mar |
Packing
Most apples are packed in 18kg which is the NZ standard, except for Red Delicious and Fuji apples.
- SG Standard colour is 50-70%
- HG High colour is 75% up, and commands a premium
| Size 18kg | 20kg |
|---|---|
| 80 | 80=90 |
| 90 | 90=100 |
| 100 | 100=113 |
| 110 | 110=125 |
| 120 | 120=135 |
| 135 | 135=150 |
| 150 | 150=165 |
Royal Gala – Size Ratio
Expected Royal Gala Size Ratio (National Average) Z-Pack
| 70# | 1.3% |
| 80# | 5.5% |
| 90# | 12.8% |
| 100# | 19.9% |
| 110# | 19.4% |
| 120# | 18.8% |
| 135# | 15% |
| 150# | 5.9% |
| 165# | 1.1% |
| 180# | 0.2% |
Hawkes Bay Fruit is expected to be larger than 2008 across all varieties. A lack of spring frosts and improved frost protection has enabled growers to crop most varieties on superior spur wood giving better potential fruit size.
Harvest will start in week 07, with packing ready for export in week 08. First exports from 19th onwards – volume will be limited, with the bulk of exports starting week 09 onwards.
Registration of Interest
Please register your interest. Let us know your pack type, variety, colour, so that we can quote you accordingly.
Best Regards,
Denise & Bala
References: AgFirst, Pipfruit NZ Inc.
Disclaimer:
Information has come from a variety of sources and is largely summary articles. References are indicated. Where opinions are expressed they are of the writer, and do not necessarily represent the New Zealand Apple Industry. Fresh Fruits Company Ltd cannot be held responsible for damages which may be incurred as a result of any person acting upon information in this publication.