Green kiwifruit growers are in for a tough year with Zespri International Ltd indicating falling tray returns.

In Zespri's August forecast, it shows the green tray return will fall by 10 cents to $6.88.
The green organic variety of kiwifruit is looking at an even greater fall; down 46 cents to $8.81.
Zespri chief executive Lain Jager says there is some cause for optimism from this result.
'On one hand, this is a very good result in the context of a challenging fruit market. On the other hand, I think we all recognise that the green return is not where it needs to be.”
Lain says there are positive solutions to this issue, 'The green market is not getting any easier but there is a viable business into the future. We are strongly focused on driving value back into this business over the next five years and the answer lies in our ability to continue to grow green demand strongly while rapidly evolving the product mix to take the supply pressure off green. This includes increasing gold volumes and introducing new cultivars to complement our existing product portfolio.”
While the return forecast is tough reading for green growers, gold growers have much to smile about with that per tray return forecast to be up $1.97 to $11.67.