New Zealand kiwifruit industry export giant Zespri is grateful to the New Zealand Government for its support of the sector and the company's role in it.

Meeting in Wellington on Tuesday, Prime Minister John Key, Tauranga MP Simon Bridges and Zespri leaders, including CEO Lain Jager met to discuss the billion dollar industry.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges, Zespri CEO Lain Jager and Prime Minister John Key sample some new red variety kiwifruit.

Lain says it was an opportunity for Zespri to thank the government for the foresight it had in passing the Kiwifruit Regulations in 1999, providing the certainty and the capacity to grow at almost 10 per cent a year since.

This is the fastest annual growth rate of any major New Zealand primary industry in this period and is reflected in the excess of $1 billion in export earnings achieved last year.

Lain says Zespri's goal now is to triple the kiwifruit industry's export earnings to $3 billion by 2025.

'Twenty years ago, we were a fragmented industry with seven exporters out-bidding each other onshore and undercutting and price bargaining in the real marketplace,” says Lain.

'There was no collective way to deal with these challenges – it was an individual fight for survival.

'Growers realised their future lay in a new industry model and pulled together to ask the government to support a single point of entry industry model.

'Today, as a result of the industry model, we are a sophisticated and highly successful export industry.

'Our industry can focus on delivering top quality fruit to market, meaning growers get premium returns for their efforts.”

This year, Zespri is exporting over 100 million trays of kiwifruit to more than 50 countries.

The industry employs tens of thousands of New Zealanders and it returns over $1 billion in export earnings.

Zespri is also investing almost $100 million in offshore marketing and will contribute about $10 million toward the $25 million invested by various agencies into innovation within the kiwifruit industry this year.

This innovation investment will be in areas such as new varieties, health and nutrition, sustainability, supply chain efficiencies, productivity improvements, and pest and disease management.

Working in conjunction with Plant & Food Research Ltd, Zespri's new varieties programme now has about 100,000 cultivars, making it the biggest kiwifruit breeding programme in the world.

'Industry cohesion has given Zespri the confidence and certainty to make these significant investments in market-led research and promotions, supply chain management and innovation to ensure the New Zealand kiwifruit industry remains a world leader.

'We thank the then Labour Government for its foresight in 1999 to support the Kiwifruit Industry Regulations, and we thank today's government for its continued support for an industry model that the industry wants and overwhelmingly supports.

'It is a model which has generated a real New Zealand export success story.”