The Jiapai Northern Hemisphere sales season has begun, with arrivals in the Asian market this month.

According to the Zespri official website, the Zespri Global Supply (ZGS) plan has been launched, and this year it is expected to supply approximately 33 million boxes (about 118,800 tons) of kiwifruit from orchards in France, Italy, Greece, Korea, and Japan.

This includes nearly 26 million boxes of Zespri SunGold kiwifruit (about 93,600 tons), a 30% increase from the previous season; meanwhile, Greece and Italy will supply approximately 7 million boxes of Zespri Green kiwifruit (about 25,200 tons).

The Zespri Global Supply (ZGS) plan aims to provide continuous supply for 12 months to customers in Zespri's main markets. Nick Kirton, Zespri's Northern Hemisphere Supply Executive, said that the increase in SunGold kiwifruit production is mainly due to favorable growth conditions. Among them, the supply of Zespri SunGold kiwifruit and organic SunGold kiwifruit in the Italian production area increased by 35% compared to the previous season.

"With the completion of sales of New Zealand SunGold kiwifruit in the European market, our ZGS SunGold sales plan has started in the past few weeks. The Asian and U.S. markets will also switch to SunGold kiwifruit supply from ZGS production areas in December. After the sales plan for New Zealand Green kiwifruit is completed, the ZGS sales for Zespri Green kiwifruit will start immediately, and the European market has already begun to supply."

Since the end of 2024, after New Zealand growers voted to approve, Zespri has started the work of adding 420 hectares of SunGold kiwifruit orchards in the Northern Hemisphere production areas in January 2025. Of these, 300 hectares are in Italy, 70 hectares in Greece, 40 hectares in France, and the remaining area will be developed in Korea. This expansion marks the first time that Greece will achieve commercial mass production of SunGold kiwifruit. In addition, Zespri plans to commercially plant 170 hectares of heart kiwifruit in Italy within the next two years, thereby providing this variety to European consumers.

Image source: zespri2025 International Fruit and Vegetable Report. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, please contact the International Fruit and Vegetable Report and credit the source as the International Fruit and Vegetable Report.