Welcome to this special edition midweek week 11 update. Growers supplying Seeka have achieved early maturity clearances in SunGold. As at the time of writing an estimated 500k trays had cleared some of which has been picked. Huka Pak has commenced packing today and Oakside will commence tomorrow.
Fruit has cleared from a wide catchment – with clearances in the Hawkes Bay, Opotiki, Edecumbe, Paengaroa, Tauranga and Kerikeri. Fruit quality looks ok, although we are receiving reports of significant levels of sooty mould in some SunGold orchards.
Our focus now is on the safe commissioning of our packhouses and commencement of the harvest process.
Seeka Growers Meeting
The Council members met today again in the normal monthly meeting to consider and approve finance, to consider and receive reports from Seeka on the early capacity plan and Industry issues.
There was a number of matters discussed in general business. Firstly, there is a call from our growers for a separate SunGold organic pool. This is not a new request from our grower council and it has been again taken back to Zespri.
Secondly, the Council discussed with Zespri the initiative for the National Grower Pool to pay significant monies towards a rebranding initiative at Zespri. While any decision on branding is one for Zespri and endorsed, the subject of who should pay for it was the subject of some debate. The crux of the problem is that the bulk of the investment is made now, and the benefit accruing later potentially to a different set of growers. This was the position of the Council that it was better that Zespri pays for the rebrand with it actually the true beneficiary of the stronger brand in the market.
Seeka Continues Heartland Growth Strategy
Seeka today announced the purchase of 100% of Aongatete Coolstores Limited. Aongatete is an integrated kiwifruit orcharding and post-harvest business operating within Seeka’s regional catchment. The , coolstores and plant are in excellent shape, and the people committed and experienced. They have a loyal grower community and the company focusses on doing the best job for its growers. In many ways it is aligned to Seeka. We are happy with the purchase and welcome its employees and growers to the wider Seeka community. Our intention it to operate this business largely as it is for the harvest, outside of sensible integration. And we will extend the scale of our packing operations to Aongatete Growers where it is needed to support a timely and safe harvest.
Happy and safe harvesting.
Michael
Seeka Key
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