We are pleased to provide you with this edition of our blog updating growers on our fruit performance and Industry issues up to the end of week 40.
Firstly – thank you to those who attended the Seeka Growers Annual Meeting last week. I have had a number of positive comments back about our guest speaker – Colonel Jim Blackwell ONZM [Retired], New Zealand’s longest serving commander of our Special Air Service [SAS]. We were humbled at the efforts of New Zealand’s military and in particular our SAS and perhaps surprised to learn that the regiment has been in active deployment since 1996. Truly an amazing and inspirational speaker. Payment for his appearance was made to the SAS Trust.
Back in the more mundane world of kiwifruit, we are into the home straight for SunGold and Hayward Organic with a-little-ways to go with the Hayward conventional. At the end of week 40, Seeka has approx 2m trays of Hayward conventional still in store. While our fruit loss is slightly higher than the Industry, Seeka has not yet used the quality withdraw mechanism.
Zespri has removed 1m trays Industry wide from inventory through crop management. There is a second mechanism to remove fruit from inventory called “quality withdraw”. Essentially a post-harvest operator advises Zespri that they do not want to ship a line of fruit and will invite Zespri to assess the fruit loss in the line. The good fruit is purchased by the national pool [essentially by all the other growers] and then withdrawn and dumped. The volume of fruit or the post-harvest company removing the fruit under the quality withdraw mechanism is not reported by Zespri. Suppliers who use this mechanism are doing so to try and deliver a differential supplier accountability outcome, paid for by all growers. Any volume managed through this mechanism is in addition to the crop management volume.
At Seeka we rely on our inventory management processes to deliver in grade fruit for the marketer to sell, and not to try and screw the scrum at the expense of other growers.
My kind regards,
Michael
Seeka Key
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