Zespri’s indicative forecast for the 2025/26 season has the kiwifruit marketer on track to deliver strong value to growers in another record crop year.
The indicative June 2025/26 OGR forecast reflects a positive start to the season, with ranges narrowed from the initial guidance provided in March 2025.
CEO Jason Te Brake said average per hectare returns for Green, Sweet Green, Organic Green and Organic SunGold Kiwifruit are now forecast to exceed last year’s record returns.
This reflects this season’s increased yields, improvements in the Green and RubyRed fruit size, and additional SunGold Kiwifruit and RubyRed Kiwifruit volume from newly producing orchards.
“We have another bumper crop of more than 200 million trays from New Zealand this season and our sales programmes have started well, particularly in Europe and North America where we’ve seen strong demand,” said Te Brake.
“This forecast is encouraging, though there are some economic headwinds in Asia, including inflationary pressures in Japan and our teams are working hard to secure good value in generally softer market conditions.”
Zespri has now shipped more than 110 million trays of Zespri Kiwifruit, which is over half this season’s total crop, with RubyRed sales now complete. The team is now focused on continuing the positive momentum started at the beginning of the season to deliver substantial value back to our growers.
Zespri's corporate net profit after tax, including licence revenue, is forecast to be NZD 248-NZD 258 million, up from NZD 155.2 million last year.
Te Brake noted that while the focus remained on delivering the season well, the industry was also making progress on key strategic issues. This included increasing grower ownership of Zespri, with the provisional uptake of the recent share alignment initiatives meaning more than 60 percent of growers will own Zespri shares, up from 48 percent.
This also followed the successful grower vote in 2024, with 91 percent of growers supporting offshore expansion, supporting Zespri’s ability to continue to lead the category.
“Our industry is creating significant value for growers and grower shareholders and the communities they support, and the outlook is positive with strong demand.”
Zespri has been developing its 2035 strategy to set its sights on the next ten years, ensuring it is best positioned to deliver the greatest value to New Zealand growers.
“Aligning the commercial interests of growers – i.e. ensuring all growers and shareholders clearly see the benefit to them in new opportunities – will be critical to this. With strong demand and the industry continuing to perform well, we are making the right steps to set ourselves up for the future, and we’re committed to continuing to do so.”
