Welcome to our latest edition of our grower update – updating you on the latest Seeka and Industry . Your grower council met this week to approve the August progress payment, review Seeka’s performance and received presentations from Zespri and KVH.
Stu Hutchings, the CEO of KVH, updated the council on the fruit fly incursion in Auckland and the ongoing response. There have been regular findings of single flies with the latest on 15 July. Monitoring and trapping will be increased as the weather warms up. The incursion is being managed via a joint government industry partnership which means industry through KVH has been part of the decision making process. The industry’s share of the cost for the management of the fruit fly incursion is forecast to come from the existing KVH levy. Stu’s message was that having the industry working in partnership with the government has been positive and KVH is doing ongoing work on the impact of an incursion in the Bay of Plenty.
Zespri presented a market update which sparked a number of questions from the council. In the Hayward conventional category pricing on average is down on last year, with the expectation that the OGR will be a lot higher than last year and 2017. The Green organic pricing remains strong and is $3.50 higher than the average conventional sales price. Gold conventional pricing on average is similar to last year, and the Gold organic price is on average $3.00 higher than the conventional Gold price. While the Council appreciate the update, it has called for more transparent reporting of sales by variety and market so it can assess performance and trends.
The council discussed Zespri’s proposal for the continuation of a Gold organic $0.50 per tray premium paid on trays loaded to Japan. 30% of all the organic Gold fruit supplied to Japan this year was supplied by Seeka at no extra costs to growers. This share was double our market share. While Japan pays a high price for the Gold, it takes real effort with pests, and dry matter and limited volumes making it a real effort, one readily met by Seeka. In February this year a premium of $0.50 per tray for trays loaded to Japan was introduced and in Seeka’s case this money is paid 100% to growers with eligible fruit.
Separately Seeka has advocated for its growers that the Gold Organic growers should be in their own pool as currently they are paid a $2.20 premium from the Gold Conventional Pool. Our Grower Council believes that costs and benefits should fall where they lie and that returns to the growers should reflect the market.
With 81% of the conventional Gold category shipped and shipping going through until week 43, the time pool adjustment will occur at the end of ISO week 36. This is the Seeka pool mechanism that ensures no growers fruit loss for fruit loaded out from ISO week 37 onwards will be worse than if it was loaded out in ISO week 37. The funding for this mechanism comes from the time pool. Seeka’s Gold fruit loss for both conventional and organic and currently tracking below the industry average.
The Hayward conventional category is 64% shipped and Hayward organic is 75% shipped. The latest departure plan has Hayward conventional shipping going through until ISO week 48 and Hayward organic until ISO week 44.
To the numbers:
Seeka
Aongatete
Aongatete fruitloss excludes fruit under the insurance claim.
A heads up to growers in the Bay of Plenty, toilet regulations are changing. If you are not aware of the current regulations or whether you will met the new regulations NZKGI have all the information on their website.
Kind regards
Michael
Seeka Key
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