© Gold Tree FarmsSouth Africa's gold kiwis have a very good marketing window, remarks Malcolm Deacon, who grows gold kiwis (all exported and packed into Primland's Oscar Gold brand) on Gold Tree Farms in White River, Mpumalanga Province.
Deacon believes Gold Tree Farms has the potential to hit 360 tonnes; he's very happy with the steady volume growth of the past almost ten years.
Six farms will this year be packing the AC171.76 kiwi varieties into Primland's Oscar Gold®, two more farms than last year, which Malcolm says he'd like to believe is the result of positive returns. Last year, Primland reported a rise of 40% in South African-grown gold kiwis. This season's estimated volume of South African gold kiwis is 1,800 tonnes.
In Italy and Greece, kiwis can be stored for three months, so there is something like being on the market too early, but in South Africa's early window, it behoves them to move the high-quality fruit quickly to avoid direct competition with New Zealand and Chilean kiwis.
"Historically, with South Africa's small volumes, it was a case of pick, pack, and send. Now, certain markets will have more interest in certain sizes. We pack directly into Oscar Gold boxes: bigger counts into 3kg trays and smaller counts into 6kg bulk boxes," Deacon explains.
The exports are handled by KiwiDirect. The relationship between Primland and South African kiwi growers is in its fifth year, and it's been a true partnership, says Primland's business development manager Etienne Malaguti. "The value of obtaining Oscar Gold from South Africa is not only interesting in view of its early season, but also because it's a good quality grown product offering a real interest for consumers."
© Gold Tree Farms Agility around port selection
The gold kiwis are packed in international standard certificated packhouses, ensuring compliance with all local and international regulatory requirements.
Deacon remarks that they're optimistic about the season ahead, despite the usual niggling matters. "We have concerns around where the ports will be in the coming weeks. We need to be agile with sailing routing as there have been challenges in the past few seasons."
He continues: "A lot of work has gone into the gold kiwi harvest and also into the young kiwi industry. We're looking to develop and grow our industry, looking to get chemical registrations in place. If at some stage you have huge pest pressure – like fall army worm on maize a few years ago – your options are limited. We'd like to see more product registrations in place to help us. There's a lot of bootstrapping going on, and the goal is to pull limited resources into the right areas."
© Gold Tree Farms 
For more information:
Malcolm Deacon
Gold Tree Farms
Tel: +27 72 333 2295
Email: malcolm@goldtreefarms.co.za
https://goldtreefarms.co.za/
Malcolm Deacon – Gold Tree Farms