Jason Te Brake: Zespri CEO on the strong returns expected this kiwifruit season

Positive news for kiwifruit growers with expectations of strong returns this season.  

Zespri's forecasting record returns on a per-hectare basis —and improvements per-tray— for all but two categories.  

SunGold and Sweet Green remain within the indicative ranges from June. 

Chief executive Jason Te Brake says sales are tracking well across our key markets. 

He told Mike Hosking consumers continue to want health and nutrition, which their product is packed with. 

Te Brake says they have a strong brand, and they’re continuing to build demand every season. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More good news from the Kiwi fruit Department. Zesbury's full
forecast for the twenty five to twenty six season shows
average per hector return reaching record levels for everything except
Sun Golden Organic Green Europe's after the Races more than
two million trays sold each week in the past of
thirteen weeks. Say Jason breaks as Zespbrey's CEO, and he's
back with us. Jason Morning, Martling, Mike, how are you

(00:21):
very well? You've got a vibe on the tariffs and
the US yet or no?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, I mean we're just living with it obviously since
April it's come into effect. We're pretty committed to North
America as a long term market for US, so we're
essentially looking through that into the long term. I think
there's got opportunity there to continue growing, and we're actually
going to sell more fruit in the US market this
year than what we expected we would good.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
What's your supply demand scenario? Seems to me that you
can grow everything you can grow and still sell more.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
I mean, we've got pretty strong demand around the world.
Consumers continue to want health and nutrition, and our product
has got a lot of that packed inside it. We've
built a strong brand, and we've also got a good
supply chain network, so we're continuing to build demand each
single season and make sure that we continue to supply
that demand with our fruit.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
What's gone wrong with organic green? I mean, is it
just the organic bit? Is it expense it taste organics?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
No, organics still pretty strong at the end of the day,
they're still pretty strong returns through organic green growers. It's
just that we've we've had some record levels at a
different level before, but we've still got good returns for
organic green.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Tell you what we were having some green at the
hell you shouldn't I mean the gold. You'll hate me
saying this, but the gold's sugar if you want the
real gold. So to speakers in the green, isn't it
green is just packed with vitamins. If you want something
that's really good for you, green, you can't go wrong,
Am I right?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yes? So, I mean green absolutely great for your digestive
system and your health benefits there packed with fiber. We've
actually just got a health claim signed off by the
European Mission this week, which is the first time a
fresh fruit has ever had a health claim in the
European Commission. And that's for our green fruit around digestive health.
So they're really positive there.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
And what I was, I'm in the supermarket. I didn't
realize how cheap they are. I bought a punnet there's
maybe ten eleven in there, and it was, I, I know,
three four or five bucks something like that. I mean
that's good value, isn't it apart from anything else?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, I mean good value and for looking after your
family and health. So yeah, no, I mean that's that's
good to have that available for Kiwi consumers.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Do you are you butter and dairy? Do you sell
different prices here than over there?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
So we'll have different prices by different markets depending on
on where the value sits and also by volume and
just local economics. So yeah, it does vary by market.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Interesting insiders always. Thanks Jason, and congratulations on all your success.
Jason to break, I sounded a bit like a folks
person of diszest breed didn't, But I don't care. It's
good for you. It's good for you. For more from
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