Red kiwifruit about two years away from commercial introduction
This will help New Zealand company Zespri provide high-quality kiwifruit all year round
By Andrea Fox
The world is waiting for a good red kiwifruit, says Zespri, and the New Zealand exporter hopes to deliver in a couple of years.
Fieldays visitors to the Zespri site can sample the attractive red fruit, but it’s taking time to fine tune its commercial introduction so the fruit is viable from orchard right through to consumer markets, chief executive Dan Mathieson says.
“It’s an exceptional piece of fruit with strong consumer attraction, but we’re still struggling with storage [time], he said.
Target storage time is 12 weeks and Zespri is currently at eight.
The Zespri Red was trialled last month with Singaporean kiwifruit buyers and “created a buzz”, Mathieson said.
The sweet fruit is two years into a five year pre-commercial trial stage.