Zespri's decision to release even more licenses to grow its SunGold kiwifruit will give growers who missed out on previous tenders a chance to grow the variety, says Doug Brown, chairman of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc.

Zespri, which holds the plant protection rights for the SunGold fruit, is to release licences for another 400 hectares next year.

This follows the release of an initial 400 hectares of SunGold licence in March and a signal that – depending on the product's performance and global demand – 400 more hectares of SunGold licence would also be released each year in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The board also announced that a further 400 hectares of SunGold licence will be released in 2020.

'The release of the addition licences is encouraging and will give growers confidence around how the fruit is performing in the market,” says Doug.

Doug believes demand for the licences will be strong.

'Many growers where unsuccessful in their bid to secure licences during the last tender process.

'This time Zespri has removed the deferred payment option and as licences are not cheap, growers will need to be talking to their banks and finance providers to prepare for tendering.”

During the last tender round, median prices were $168,478 for the 200ha restricted to green growers converting to gold, and $173,913 per ha in open tender. The lowest successful bid price was $142,000 per ha in the open tender, but Zespri would not disclose the highest bid.

Doug expects the release of the licences will see more new orchards being developed as well as further grafting of SunGold onto existing Hayward green vines.

'We are very fortunate in that SunGold has wide appeal across all our markets, where as the previous gold kiwifruit, Hort16A seemed to appeal mainly to Asian consumers.”

News that even more growers will be able to diversify their kiwifruit crops is excellent, says Doug, but growers and marketers are keen for more varieties, in particular a red kiwifruit.

New Zealand plan breeders are working to develop a red variety which meets all of Zespri's high quality standards including for taste and storage ability.