Kiwifruit growers have rejected proposal

Kiwifruit growers have rejected a proposal that would have licensed chinese growers to sell the Sungold variety under the Zespri brand name. Zespri owns the rights to Sun Gold but believes there are at least 5500 hectares of unauthorised plantings in China. In an effort to gain some control back - it wanted to work with Chinese growers to market the fruit - and asked New Zealand growers here to approve the proposal. The rogue Chinese growers are already producing around $1 billion worth of the fruit. Zespri says China's planting about 2000 Ha of the vines every year, meaning it could surpass New Zealand's 9000Ha of Sungold within a couple of years. Māni Dunlop spoke to Zespri's chief executive Dan Mathieson.