It is the first of 63 charter vessels Zespri expects to use this season to ship around half of the expected 193 million trays, or almost 695,000 tonnes, of Green, SunGold and RubyRed Kiwifruit to more than 50 countries. That’s up from the 51 charter vessels used last season.
This season harvest was off to a great start as fruit maturing early, especially in Poverty Bay.
Seeka has had more than the Industry share to date to pack. This helps later on with storage as the early fruit is shipped earlier.
Around 13 million gold trays have been packed to date. The actual trays packed are 6 percent down on the crop estimate.
Therefore trim the total numbers by 6 percent. Roughly 3 million trays each less for Seeka and Eastpack.
The weather is fine, and I could hear the packhouse unloading trucks in Te puke to well after midnight. Kept me awake. This is unusual, but working hard I guess.
Zespri also updated the forecast range for this selling season. They are confident of setting the lower level at $10 per tray to $11.50.
So far everything sounds like it is going to plan, and Seeka will benefit from the higher volumes of early fruit.
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