In an attempt to boost the New Zealand industry once again, one of the world’s largest post-harvest operation, located in Tauranga, is dropping its green kiwifruit packing prices. This drop has been made possible thanks to Mount Pack & Cool’s (Mpac) foresight and investment program spanning five year. The program has seen its new Tauriko site become a model of automation, streamlining and efficiency.
Mpac managing director Brendon Lee: “We’ve been able to do this because we started with a blank canvas in 2017, buying the land in Tauriko and designing and building the ultimate post-harvest operation to optimise efficiencies. This investment and the resulting operation mean we can now make this significant move to support green kiwifruit growers – a move that we believe is needed to reinvigorate the struggling variety.”
“The packing of green offsets the price of packing gold, it’s as simple as that. What’s good for green, is good for the gold and the whole industry,” says Brendon. “Without the green packing cycle between March and June, which predominantly comes after the gold, it will be twice as costly at post-harvest for gold and then we’ll find that part of the industry straining.”
“At Mpac we see a future for green – it’s still in demand around the world, we just need to keep it commercially viable by providing a good, competitive service and packing price for the growers. Green is a crucial part of the kiwifruit portfolio.”
Source: sunlive.co.nz