Please accept this Grower Update to the end of week 17 [Sunday 26 April].
The weather is continuing to play its part in harvest 2015 with rain disrupting picking operations. Seeka is well over the top of its Hayward harvest with only 140k trays left to pack to achieve its week 18 allocated volume and the orchards to fill this volume are all lined up. Our first mainpack Hayward clearances have been achieved and the growers signed-off to harvest. 2015 is a lower dry matter year for Hayward than last season so growers are encouraged to make their crops available for processing as soon as they reach acceptable size and DM levels. This will allow the harvest to proceed without risks mounting as happens when fruit remain on the vine in the hope of further DM increases. Such behaviour tends to result in a log jam later when the weather is uncertain and the canopy deteriorating. Every tray we pack now is a tray less at the end.
The Hayward organics kiwistart supply cap remains open. Seeka processed all Hayward organics that cleared in time.
The G3 harvest has continued with the sheds right over the top of clearances. Despite this there is the occasional spongy line coming through the shed even though the harvest is very close to the clearance. It’s a signal that the 2015 colour variation within G3 lines is wide. Mature and fully coloured fruit in the orchards have been waiting for the greener fruit to colour and achieve the harvest protocol. Inventory levels are low and our teams have the opportunity to ship the right lines at the moment. We have about 5½ full processing days for our G3 designated machines to complete our estimated crop numbers. As long as the weather cooperates we believe that we will have a timely close to the G3 harvest.
G9 is becoming a priority. Zespri’s advice is to look at brix levels as well as colour and pressure and a number of our orchards are now in the designated zone. Our teams will be looking to harvest and process this fruit at the next opportunity.
There are no safety incidents to report in the week. Thankfully reasonably quiet on that front.
The statistics as at midnight Sunday 26 April:
Hayward
Seeka packed: 4,332,999 trays Industry packed: 14,996,892 trays [29%]
Seeka average size: 33.20 Industry average size: 33.20
Shipped 3,270,528 trays In-store: 1,062,471 trays
On order for week 18 561,641 trays
On order for week 19 346,121 trays
Hayward quality continues to be excellent. The crews have appreciated the effort made in the orchards to deliver a well-groomed crop. Thank you. We are chasing clearances. Dry matters are lower than last season. We would encourage our growers to make their crops available for packing when they reach maturity this year rather than hanging on waiting for dry matter. [Please look at the weather]. There is space in the queue now and fruit packed now is expected to be fully shipped.
Hayward organic
Seeka packed: 209,128 trays Industry packed: 865,569 trays [24.1%]
Seeka average size: 34.72 Industry average size: 34.74
Shipped: 75,841 trays In-store: 133,287 trays
On order for week 18 55,353 trays
On order for week 19 19,585 trays
Mainpack clearances now.
G14
Seeka packed: 165,304 trays Industry packed: 1,058,773 [17%]
Seeka average size: 36.19 Industry average size: 35.85
Shipped: 130,313 trays In-store: 34,991 trays
On order for week 18 10,252 trays
On order for week 19 21,175 trays
Waiting for last harvest
G3
Seeka packed: 2,471,462 trays Industry packed: 14,996,892 [16.5%]
Seeka average size: 29.45 Industry average size: 30.38
Shipped: 1,292,521trays In store: 1,178,940 trays
On order for week 18 189,982 trays
On order for week 19 143,379 trays
Seeka packed 974k trays of G3 in week 17 and are about 65% through the G3 harvest compared to the Industry approximately 56% at the end of week 17. We have about 5.5 full processing days left to complete harvest and packing if the machines available for G3 are utilised to their maximum capacity. Some softer pressures in the clearances now and we will move fruit around utilising packing capacity to ensure timely packing.
G3 Organic
Seeka packed: 19,798 trays Industry packed: 168,309 [11.7%]
Seeka average size: 25.11 Industry average size: 30.53
Shipped: 15,907 trays In store: 3,891 trays
On order for week 18 4,453 trays
On order for week 19 1,340 trays
Really nice fruit thank you. Yes more orders than fruit but we are expecting to pack more this week.
Hort 16a
Seeka packed: 148,042 trays Industry packed: 1,757,792 trays [8.4%]
Seeka average size: 31.32 Industry average size: 31.37
Shipped: 72,069 trays In store: 75,069 trays
On order week 18 58,274 trays
On order week 19 6,444 trays
Other updates:
Oakside Recovery: Significant progress made with the rebuild and we expect that the site will be fully reusable this week. Supermac [the coolstore panel construction company] have put in a huge week. The roof is back on Room 3 and the ends are substantially in place. Most of the container docks are rebuilt leaving only the western wall to be erected. The roof is on the curtain-sider load-out area. If it wasn’t for the rain I expect that the site would have been closed-in already with just the sealing and electrical work to be completed.
Pioneer and Oakside Coolstore Builds – both of these projects are right on track and will be ready for peak load. Pioneer is substantially completed with just the racking to be erected.
Seeka ASM - Tuesday is the Annual Shareholders meeting commencing at 2:30pm at the Mount Club – if you are a shareholder [and most of you are] please feel welcome to attend.
Kind regards
Michael
Seeka Key
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