Frankly Speaking – Week 18 Update
Please accept this Grower Update to the end of week 18 [Sunday 3 May].
Settled weather late in the week has allowed Seeka to make big advances in the harvest. By midnight Sunday some 9.2M trays had been harvested and packed by Seeka. Importantly the Sungold [G3] harvest will be all but completed in the early part of week 19 for the Bay of Plenty with only the Peninsula and Northland continuing. There have been some tremendous Sungold lines through the shed, however later lines have been punctuated with softer or spongy fruit – which is why we have pushed to get the fruit harvested. Lastweek all machines were packing Sungold with the exception of KKP and Huka Pak 2 which packed the early Hayward clearances. Seeka packed well above its allocated volume of Hayward in week 18 building up an inventory that is now being drawn upon by the Industry.
Capacity is now swinging to Hayward [Green] to cope with the bulk of the main season crop. We have good numbers of clearances and good fruit flow. In store inventory levels are low and we have a lot of orders for Hayward to load out - so the pressure is on. Hayward crop volumes are up on estimate but these early fruit movements will help ensure that we have sufficient coolstorage - as our plans indicate. The teams are now starting to look for lines suitable for CA [controlled atmosphere] storage.
Residue levels, market restrictions and the new Zespri order system, which has faltered on implementation, have all combined to create many challenges for the supply team entrusted with getting fruit to market. It’s surprisingly challenging to get the right fruit packed into the right packaging with the right label taking into account its size, variety and now residue.
Thankfully there are no safety incidents to report on this week however it’s important that safety continues to be at the forefront of our minds as the pressure comes on as the volumes increase. We expect that the Oakside rebuild will be sufficiently complete to enable the new loadout area to be used from today or tomorrow. This will take significant pressure off the forecourt at the site.
The statistics as at midnight Sunday 3 May:
Hayward
Seeka packed 5,131,548 trays Industry packed 17,653,071 trays [29%]
Seeka average size 32.98 Industry average size 32.92
Shipped 3,923,627 trays In-store 1,264,418 trays
On order for week 19 1,167,515 trays
On order for week 20 479,897 trays
Yes its correct. We have 1.167m trays on order, and only 1.264m trays in inventory – and note that not all the inventory we have will be clear to load to all markets because of residue restrictions. This is a big week for our coolstore crews. However the sheds [KKP, Transpack, Oakside 1 & 2, and Huka 1 & 2] are full and packing Hayward 24 hours. Hayward quality continues to be excellent and we have had some stunningly clean lines. The crews have appreciated the effort made in the orchards to deliver a well-groomed crop. Thank you.
Hayward organic
Seeka packed 209,130 trays Industry packed 868,072 trays [24.1%]
Seeka average size 34.29 Industry average size 34.74
Shipped 129,926 trays In-store 79,286 trays
On order for week 19 25,551 trays
On order for week 20 - trays
Mainpack clearances now.
G14
Seeka packed 166,088 trays Industry packed 1,319,567 [12.6%]
Seeka average size 36.19 Industry average size 35.92
Shipped 140,565 trays In-store 25,523 trays
On order for week 19 25,103 trays
On order for week 20 - trays
Waiting for last harvest. We will be pretty much fully loaded out this week.
G3 [Sungold]
Seeka packed 3,448,591 trays Industry packed 21,775,956 [16.0%]
Seeka average size 30.19 Industry average size 30.95
Shipped 1,564,140 trays In store 1,884,451 trays
On order for week 19 281,255 trays
On order for week 20 167,035 trays
Nearly there – Seeka is 95% through its G3 harvest and right on plan, [Industry is at 81%]. After the early part of this week there will only be some late high orchards remaining to harvest
G3 Organic
Seeka packed 30,390 trays Industry packed 328,819 [11.7%]
Seeka average size 27.48 Industry average size 30.95
Shipped 18,832 trays In store 7211,558 trays
On order for week 19 1, 772 trays
On order for week 20 - trays
Hort 16a
Seeka packed 171,278 trays Industry packed 2,160,265 trays [7.9%]
Seeka average size 31.33 Industry average size 31.26
Shipped 101,474 trays In store 69,776 trays
On order week 19 29,154 trays
On order week 20 25,251 trays
G9 [Charm]
Seeka packed 30,116 trays Industry packed 249,936 trays [12.0%]
Seeka average size 37.33 Industry average size 34.19
Shipped - trays In store 30,116 trays
On order week 19 - trays
On order week 20 - trays
The Seeka Growers Council has invited Zespri to update it on the marketing and plan for G9. This is scheduled for 13 May.
Close
Happy and safe harvesting.
Kind regards
Michael
Seeka Key
Contacts