T&G Welcomes Bill to Allow Exports of Kiwifruit

T&G Welcomes Bill to Allow Exports of New Kiwifruit Varieties

The Chairman of the country’s leading fresh produce exporter today welcomed moves in Parliament to update the decade old Kiwifruit Export Regulations to allow owners of new kiwifruit varieties to export their own fruit.

The Government’s support Party ACT has lodged a Private Member’s Bill to enable owners of Kiwifruit Plant Variety Rights (PVRs) or licensees of PVRs to export fruit without restriction.

The Bill comes in the same week that the Government has moved to ensure “fair and open” competition in the dairy industry. Turners & Growers Chairman, Tony Gibbs says the Kiwifruit Industry Restructuring (Plant Variety Rights) Amendment Bill is a key step in removing the “hypocrisy” of the Kiwifruit Regulations that currently outlaw export competition in the kiwifruit industry.

Turners & Growers owns the world’s first commercialised red kiwifruit, ENZARed™, which it estimates could match the export earnings of Gold kiwifruit. The company has been leading a high-profile campaign to have the regulations updated to ensure New Zealand is the Southern Hemisphere’s growing hub for ENZARed and ENZA’s other new kiwifruit varieties, which could add up to half a billion dollars to New Zealand’s export earnings each year.

“We’ve lead the kiwifruit industry here in identifying innovative new varieties as the way of the future, we’ve got the first red in commercial production, a premium gold variety and the new Summerkiwi also established here – we need the rules updated to keep pace.”

The now decade-old Kiwifruit Export Regulations were set up when Zespri was a grower cooperative and there was only the green Hayward kiwifruit variety.

Tony Gibbs said the world has moved on and the current situation where Zespri as the owner of one PVR (Plant Variety Right) variety can exercise control over the commercial destiny of PVR varieties owned by others is ridiculous.

“As one of New Zealand’s export success stories, Turners & Growers agrees with the Government that the key to future international success lies in innovation to develop and market premium products – that’s exactly what we’ve done with ENZA’s kiwifruit varieties. But as one commentator put it last week, we’ve got rules to get competition into Dairy, but keep it out of kiwifruit. That’s just nonsense.”

This week Turners & Growers is launching the first in its “Yes, minister” series of high profile billboards (attached), aimed to highlight the Government’s “difficulty” with allowing a kiwifruit industry structure where a private company has a state sanctioned monopoly and competition is illegal.

Under the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999, Zespri is the only company allowed to export kiwifruit to markets outside New Zealand and Australia. Unlike Fonterra, Zespri is not a cooperative. Zespri is a private company that can pick and choose what varieties, sizes and quantities of fruit it takes from growers.

Tony Gibbs says Zespri claims that the ‘Collaborative Marketing’ system allows for other parties to export kiwifruit. “In practice, approval for Collaborative Marketing is only granted where it suits Zespri, making it a marginal programme without any competitive checks on Zespri”. Last year over a quarter of all Collaborative Marketing approvals were granted to Zespri itself.

“Turners & Growers takes New Zealand’s best from the soil to the world plate. We have successfully taken more new fruit and vegetable varieties to the world than any other company in New Zealand. We need Kiwifruit Regulations that encourage innovation and competition and recognise the property rights of those who own premium new kiwifruit varieties,” said Tony Gibbs.

Turners & Growers is this week extending its billboard campaign to Auckland where two 12-metre billboards have been set up on its site in Mt Wellington next to Auckland’s busy southern motorway.

ENDS

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