Since 2007, New Zealand's mandarin tree population has been slowly growing, though it's far from its peak 15 years ago. Figures from Statistics New Zealand show there were 708 hectares of land planted in mandarins last year, up from 691 ha in 2012. However, this is down from the 914 ha of land planted with the orange citrus fruit tree in 2002.
According to an article on stuff.co.nz, Pipfruit NZ chief executive Alan Pollard has said if the bug made its way to New Zealand it had the potential to cause billions of damage to the economy.