New Zealand Kiwi Prices May Rise

WELLINGTON — Expect kiwi-fruit prices to rise again this year as unfavorable exchange rates combine with a smaller crop to impact on the New Zealand grown fruit, said Simon Limmer, grower and government relations general manager at exporter Zespri.

Mr. Limmer told the Wall Street Journal in a phone interview that Zespri–which is responsible for all of New Zealand's NZ$1.1 billion (US$913 million) kiwi-fruit export trade–expects New Zealand growers to produce 10% fewer kiwi fruit in the 2013 season, which ends in May.

"The bulk of that (reduction) is in the gold (kiwi fruit)," he said.

Production is expected to total 90 million trays this year, dropping from 110 million trays two years ago the impact of a virulent vine disease plays out. Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae, or Psa-V, was first identified in New Zealand kiwi-fruit vines in late 2010 and now affects around 65% of the island nation's orchards. The impact has been particularly devastating for the newer gold variety of the fruit, and two-thirds of vines that produce gold fruit have had to be cut out and replaced with a new variety that is less susceptible to the disease.

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