To those with more influence in these matters than me, can someone please sort the weather out? We need the weather pattern to reverse, and need seven days of fine weather and two of wet rather than what we are currently experiencing.
Nights have gotten colder. The brixes will start to rise and the canopies will shut down, probably stalling dry matter accumulation.
We are well placed with the harvest. We are almost there with the G3 with the last few orchards to clear in some sizes, and are keeping a close eye on both brixes and pressure. Seeka has introduced a retrospective change to reject charges; a 10% dry matter cap for reject charges for main packed Gold 3 only.
In Hayward; it’s all about the weather and maintaining a constant flow of the right fruit to the sheds. The brixes are close to the ideal range for controlled atmosphere; however we will only load if we are satisfied with the weather and that we can load the room in the ideal time frame. This time last year the industry had packed 49 million TE of Hayward, which was 18 million TE more than is currently packed. Our capacity plans have suggested that we have enough coolstore space. Last week Seeka declined to use a slow streaming option arranged by Zespri to aid those with less than adequate planning and investment.
Our organic mainpack run is about to commence at Huka Pak, with a good line up now of fruit to harvest and pack.
It’s now time to push to the finish, but please sort the weather.
To the numbers [as at midnight 22 May]
Hayward Conventional
| Seeka packed trays | 9,874,429 | Industry packed trays | 31,258,688 [31.6%] |
| Seeka avge size | 32.24 | Industry avge size | 32.28 |
| Seeka loaded trays | 6,055,038 | Instore trays | 3,819,391 |
| On order | 2,390,106 | Our share of hayward packed to date is remarkable | |
Hayward Organic
| Seeka packed trays | 235,013 | Industry packed trays | 1,476,805 [15.9%] |
| Seeka avge size | 33.30 | Industry avge size | 35.12 |
| Seeka loaded trays | 108,898 | Instore trays | 126,114 |
| On order | 126,579 | Better get on and get packing | |
Zespri SunGold G3 Conventional
| Seeka packed trays | 7,202,425 | Industry packed trays | 45,222,059 [15.9%] |
| Seeka avge size | 29.84 | Industry avge size | 29.04 |
| Seeka loaded trays | 3,981,403 | Instore trays | 3,221,019 |
| On order | 770,987 |
We expect most will be shipped by week 30 |
|
Zespri SunGold G3 Organic
| Seeka packed trays | 116,310 | Industry packed trays | 713,400 [16.3%] |
| Seeka avge size | 30.22 | Industry avge size | 29.73 |
| Seeka loaded trays | 55,932 | Instore trays | 60,378 |
| On order | 12,190 |
|
|
Zespri Sweetgreen G14
| Seeka packed trays | 174,844 | Industry packed trays | 1,533,331 [11.4%] |
| Seeka avge size | 36.05 | Industry avge size | 36.21 |
| Seeka loaded trays | 122,199 | Instore trays | 52,645 |
| On order | 24,678 |
|
|
Load out areas
We have had a number of calls from grumpy truckies about the state of the loadout areas. Trucks have had to be pulled out of sticky load out areas on numerous occasions. Simply it’s not safe. At the same time; load out areas have been under a lot of pressure due to rain, much larger picking operations, increased movement, forklifts and people.
A few years ago Seeka funded a loadout area remedial scheme which allowed orchardists to upgrade their loadout area and pay this back to Seeka over two or three years. It’s too late to do this again this year but we will reoffer it again at the end of the season.
Happy and safe harvesting!
Michael
Seeka Key
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