Week ending Sunday 1 March 2020Welcome to this week’s update to our growers and stakeholders. Firstly, to the positive – I am happy to report that Seeka has successfully and safely completed its kiwiberry harvest. Fruit quality has been exceptional, and Seeka’s harvest planning has seen it process the fruit ahead of any significant fruit drop. The investment made by Seeka in the kiwiberry packing line along with the preseason maintenance and planning resulted in excellent operations, excellent presentation of fruit and a smooth supply chain. Returns per tray will be a little down reflecting the volume of fruit processed in a short amount of time – but really, it has been a very good campaign. Our fruit and quality has delivered a premium to the market and our initial indications are for “very satisfactory” returns to growers per hectare. Final fruit will be packed and dispatched this week. Overall, we have picked around 950 bins, with a sensational packout at around 85 trays per bin. Well done to all. The kiwifruit season is close. There continues to be unsettledness around the global impact of coronavirus. By way of example of the impact, some estimated 120,000 containers are clogged at the Port of Shanghai representing some 8% of the global container supply. Port Operations at Shanghai are an estimated three weeks from getting back to normal operations, let alone clearing the backlog, and this is in a country that has gone to extreme efforts to contain the impact of this outbreak. Because of the backlog at Shanghai, exporters are diverting product flow to other countries and markets – and this is changing container availability. Thankfully Zespri has sufficient early supply and has booked additional reefer vessels in case container availability runs short. The Industry is going to have to be nimble as it works through the shipping and market options. Zespri is looking at options to vary market mix to ensure that the fruit flows through the infrastructure early in the season, ensuing sufficient capacity at peak load and removing the requirement for crop management. Alongside this we have had a team at Seeka preparing us with contingency plans should we have an outbreak with our employees (seasonal or permanent). Making sure that critical systems can still run, understanding our own contingency plans, ensuring that the required agencies are notified as required, that we take all efforts to make sure our people are safe, including making sure that our complement of RSE workers will receive the best pastoral care should they fall ill, and that we maintain maximum capacity and service to our growers. There is no downside to planning for the worst event other than we are prepared. Thank you to all of you who have attended our recent “After 5pm” roadshows and grower updates. Importantly in the presentations, there has been the focus on safety, our focus on traffic management, moving plant and equipment, machine guarding and fatigue. A lot of work has been undertaken at all sites to ensure that we deliver an improved safety matrix. Thank you also to those growers that participate in our orchard monitor programme. A summary of the latest monitor samples is available on the Seeka website, under technical information in the grower portal. The data shows regional variability, and within region variability, that this dry season is presenting us with, particularly fruit size. We will update our growers when we get our first clearance and get underway. Kind regards and safe harvesting Michael |
Seeka Key
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