Kiwis exports start

The kiwi season is launched in New Zealand and the first ship containing fruit for export left the port of Tauranga, destinated to Japan.

2015 harvest began last week in different regions ( Katikati , Te Puke , Gisborne ) . Zespri has chartered 55 reefers , 5 vessels for direct links with Shanghai and 8,000 refrigerated containers for exports to 54 countries around the world.

According to Zespri, the 2015 harvest is expected to reach 30 million Gold kiwifruit trays and 25 million trays of the variety from Gold3 and marketed under the name Zespri Sungold , surpassing the previous record of 29 million trays sold in the 2011 season .

For the main variety , Green kiwi, over 70 million trays are provided from a total harvest volume of about 108 million Zespri Kiwifruit trays.

source : bay of plenty times nz herald co