Kiwifruit growers are calling for a government inquiry into the operations of marketer Zespri, saying they have lost confidence in the company.

In a letter to the Minister for Primary Industries and Economic Development, 41 growers say they no longer unquestionably support the Single Point of Entry Model for kiwifruit.

Growers are calling for an inquiry into Zespri. Photo: File.

'As growers we do not feel that we have been told the whole truth over the large fine in Korea in 2010, nor are we confident that the whole truth will be revealed over the customs fraud in China,” the letter says.

This follows letters late last week from 16 post-harvest companies to the Prime Minister, Minister for Primary Industries and parliamentarians pledging their support for Zespri and the industry structure.

Growers who have signed the latest letter and included their orchard numbers to verify they are Zespri suppliers, say Zespri is no longer the growers' marketing servant 'charged with obtaining the best results for the kiwifruit that we grow, but have become in many respects our masters and dictates to us in a way that is beyond belief”.

'We also increasingly lack confidence in Kiwifruit New Zealand as the organisation put in place to oversee the industry.”

Kiwifruit New Zealand has allowed Zespri to become too powerful and is not doing its job as an industry regulator to look after the interests of growers, says the letter.

Growers are dispirited because of the impacts of the disease Psa-V, and are fragmented and easily manipulated because Zespri has all the information and a well-paid and sophisticated publicity machine, the letter says.

The growers are also critical of the grower body New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc which it says has become too close to Zespri and seems unwilling to ask the hard questions and get information on anything which might reflect negatively on Zespri.

Zespri is coming under increasing pressure over a customs case in China which resulted in Zespri's former China agent Liu Xiongjie being arrested on smuggling charges, ordered to repay $7.6million in underpaid customs duties on New Zealand kiwifruit and sentenced to 13 years jail, and claims in the media of fraud on the part of the export company.

Zespri's chairman Peter McBride has written to growers saying 'it is important that growers have the facts of the situation”.

'It is true that Zespri had questions about the basis of the dual invoicing process. Concerns were raised by some employees and we did take actions at the time to check that the process was appropriate.

'In hindsight we should have checked more rigorously and we have clearly identified that our compliance systems need to be strengthened.

'Claims that Zespri knew what was happening are wrong. Zespri was led to believe by its former importer that an agreement with China Customs to allow for dual invoicing did exist, and that appropriate duties were being paid. All Zespri's actions at the time with regard to the import of kiwifruit into China were conducted in the context of believing such an agreement did exist,” the letter says.

Further, Zespri has placed more information on the website The Canopy which only growers can access saying it 'is aware that a number of media outlets continue to be fed information, including selected internal Zespri documents supplied by an anonymous source, about the China Customs investigation.

'As already stated, it appears this on-going media campaign - which is being fronted by the ACT Party and fuelled by anonymous industry sources – is an attempt to destabilise the kiwifruit industry's structure.

'Zespri reiterates its advice from China that achieving the best result for both ZMCC (Zespri's Chinese subsidiary Zespri Management Consulting Company) and our employee in China depends on us following due process within China's legal system, continuing to cooperate fully with China's authorities and working through the issues in a deliberate and considered manner."

'However, in an environment where internal documents are being leaked and selectively interpreted, Zespri wants to keep growers informed of information which we understand will soon be making its way into the public domain. Having to do this is potentially damaging to our legal strategy in China, but our hand has been forced by those intent on causing maximum damage to the industry structure and the value of the Zespri brand.”

A link is provided to a summary of documents and information given to growers with regards to the China Customs investigation.