Tue, May 2, 2023 5:00 AM
Guest
HEATH WILKINS
This year’s crop looks fantastic. Apart from being a wet season, the crop is looking relatively clean and sizing well. We had a late frost during blossom which reduced the crop load on a few of our blocks but nothing to compare to the 2020 hail, reports Managing Director of Golden Bay Fruit, Heath Wilkins.
Unfortunately, Heath said, “export shipping has not improved so far this season. There is an issue getting supply of containers which is impacting our ability to get enough containers out through the Port each week.
This means there’s is a knock-on effect for supplying our customers globally due to omissions and schedule changes because of weather disruption.” He adds, “We are working with four different shipping lines to maintain scheduled shipments but we're at the whim of the weather.”
The company reports, early apple varieties have arrived in market with Sassy™ & Royal Gala leading the charge into Guangzhou. Sassy™ cemented its position as an early season variety with harvest one week ahead of other varieties.
This year Sassy’s volume out of New Zealand is up to twenty containers from just two containers last year! The sweet candy pink Cherish™ is looking gorgeous this year and has a refreshed look, brand story & video to bring the romance and sweetness of Cherish™ to life! This season's Cherish™ is looking as pink as ever and is in great condition.
This season, Golden Bay Fruit has teamed up with local juicer Tasman Bay Food Co to press our apples, kiwis and pears into pure apple and pure apple & kiwi juice. Beautiful fresh apple juice with no added sugars, no preservatives, in fact, nothing but fruit and a pinch of vitamin C.