Page 14 - October freshletter_UK

12 FRESHLETTER

sumer base. Kiwifruit makes up around presence and visibility in stores and lever-
just 1.5 percent of the world’s internation- aging our merchandising projects, espe-
ally traded fruit, and with consumers in- cially with key retailers, to promote Sun-
creasingly looking for products that taste Gold.
good, make them feel good, and that are We want to get closer to our consum-
good for them, we think there’s potential ers so we’ll also be implementing a digi-
to lift this market share. Looking ahead, tal campaign that combines influencer en-
we expect to see strong growth in our ma- gagement with a consumer digital contest,
jor markets like Europe, Japan and Great- and you can expect that we’ll be promot-
er China, and are excited about the poten- ing the many nutritional benefits of Zespri
tial of some of our emerging markets like Kiwifruit around major local health and fit-
North America and South East Asia. We ness events.
are working with our partners in Europe to We are also seeing strong investment
grow the category and the markets and to particularly in Italy, from our partners thee,
meet that demand. based on their relationship with Zespri and
the world thrive through the goodness of
kiwifruit. the growing demand for our fruit, with in-
Is there any progress concerning with Looking ahead, we’ll be continuing to in- vestment in orchards and post-harvest fa-
the introduction of the red kiwi in vest in strengthening our brand in Europe cilities to cope with the projected increase
Zespri’s portfolio? so that we can grow our position in our in SunGold kiwifruit out of Europe.
This year we’ve had a really positive re- key markets including Spain, Germany and
sponse from consumers from the limited the Benelux countries, who are our larg-
release of Zespri Red we undertook in New est markets, as well as in France and Italy. There were some talks
Zealand, and from our trials in Singapore. We are working with growers and suppli- between Zespri and Greek
Consumers have really responded to the ers in places like Italy and France to meet farmers in regard to the
fruit’s beautiful vibrant red color and very the growing demand for SunGold kiwifruit cultivation of your yellow
sweet flavor. A red kiwifruit does provide around the world, meaning more jobs, in- kiwi in Greece. Is there any
some challenges which we need to consid- vestment and the sharing of technical ease progress in this sector? Will
er before deciding whether we could com- in Europe. we see these kiwis to be
mercialise a red variety. These relate to the cultivated in Greece?
shorter storage life of the fruit and its ten- Finally, is there anything new to ex- Zespri’s strategy is to supply
dency to ripen faster than other varieties pect from Zespri during the next the world’s leading kiwifruit all
of kiwifruit. months in terms of any new market- year round. As part of that we
We are currently reviewing all of our da- ing campaign or any new important grow in Northern Hemisphere
ta and will be outlining our next steps in agreements or investments? countries like Italy and France
terms of whether we will commercialise a This season’s crop is one of the tastiest and as demand for our kiwifruit
red variety by the end of this year. grows we are always looking for
fruits we’ve had and we’re getting some new growing locations. There are
fantastic feedback from consumers.
Zespri is very interested in the wider During the winter season, we’ll be con- currently small trials underway
propagation of its yellow kiwi in Eu- tinuing to invest in building our Zespri brand in Greece and while
rope. Give us some information about through a range of marketing campaigns we expect these,
your plans for this product. in the South of Europe (e.g. Italy, Spain & along with the
SunGold has been an incredible success Benelux). In Benelux, this will include fur- commercial
with consumers across the world and is a ther promotion of our relationships
variety that we’re exceptionally proud of. award-winning we’re forming,
In 2019, for the first time, we’re expecting and very popu- to help grow our
to supply more New Zealand-grown Sun- lar Kiwi broth- future European
Gold than Green kiwifruit. ers campaign, fruit production, the
While SunGold has traditionally been while in Italy, trials remain in the
popular in Asia, European consumers have we’ll be con- very early stages so we
also shown an increasing appetite for the tinuing with have yet to determine
delicious taste of this variety which has at- a 360-plan the viability of SunGold
tracted a range of new consumers to the built on the under Greek growing
world of kiwifruit. Many consumers now Amiamo - conditions.
eat both gold and green varieties. ci campaign.
Our purpose remains to help people, This focuses
communities and the environment around
on boosting our

OCTOBER 2019