Growers of Zespri Green Kiwifruit have achieved the industry's highest-ever return of $53,884 per hectare.

The marketer says its final result for 2014/15 shows an industry that is back on track and on course for the strong growth outlook ahead.

Photo: File.

Zespri Chairman Peter McBride insists the last season has been extraordinary, with the total fruit and service payment up 17 per cent on the previous year to $939 million.

Zespri sold 69 million trays of Zespri Green Kiwifruit from New Zealand at the highest-ever average per hectare return for the industry of $53,884 and a very strong average per tray return of $6.01.

Gold returns fell to $73,890 per hectare and $9.80 per tray, owing in part to the rebound in gold kiwifruit production, led by Gold3. Total gold supply increased from 11.1 million trays in 2013/14 to 18.6 million trays in 2014/15.

The lower per-hectare return also reflects the fact that average industry Gold3 yields are below potential at this stage, following the recovery from the vine disease Psa. Average yields will increase strongly as developing canopies come into full production in the next few years.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc president Neil Trebilco says growers who had crops to harvest last season will be pleased, and Zespri has done well to achieve those results.

'However, there were some factors which helped those results,” explains Neil. 'Gold volumes were down because of the effects of Psa and there was very little green fruit in the market because of a reduction in the Chilean crop.

'Zespri still had foreign exchange hedging in place but that will now come off, so growers should expect that to lower the per-tray price in the coming year.”

Neil says while Zespri is quoting indicative returns for the 2015/16 season of $5 to $5.50 per tray for green kiwifruit and $6.70 to $7.20 per tray for gold kiwifruit, growers would be wise to budget at the lower end of the range and hope for better.

He adds: 'Because of our marketing structure and the fact Zespri kiwifruit is sold as a premium, not a commodity product, it isn't likely the kiwifruit industry will be hit by price drops as has happened in the dairy industry. But you can never say never.”

John says two factors helped influence the record returns for green kiwifruit. 'Our result was helped by sales performance,” he says, 'and by productivity increases, with average yields now at nearly 9,000 trays per hectare.”

The shortage of Chilean kiwifruit in the market, following severe frosts in Chile, also contributed to the strong green returns.

Zespri's global kiwifruit sales reached $1.568 billion, up 16 percent on 2013/14. Export earnings increased by 18 percent to $1.086 billion versus the 2013/14 season.