Kiwifruit Gold growers to compete with illicit China fruit

Earlier this week Zespri, the country's sole exporter of kiwifruit, announced it is to partner with a state-run Chinese company to buy SunGold fruit grown illicitly in China. Zespri owns rights to the Gold variety, and it estimates that around 4000 hectares of the sweet, smooth-skinned fruit are grown in China annually. Under the deal Zespri, would buy pirated fruit off growers and market them under the SunGold brand. NZX listed company Seeka is Australasia's biggest kiwifruit grower and they supply their fruit to Zespri for export. CEO Michael Franks explained to First Up producer Jeremy Parkinson how the Kiwifruit industry works and what he makes of the deal with the Chinese.