Horticulture exports shipped out of New Zealand have hit a record breaking $6.2 billion in the year ending June 2019. Revenues were up $720 million over the previous year, with the sector accounting for more than 10% of New Zealand’s total merchandise export income.
A significant $3.4 billion of this was fresh fruit exports, which grew by $54 million since 2018. Kiwifruit continues to be New Zealand’s largest fresh fruit export, valued at $2.3 billion in 2019.
A staggering 545,800 tonnes of kiwifruit exports were sent overseas, two thirds of this to Asian countries. Apples were the second largest fresh fruit export, earning $829 million. New Zealand-bred varieties such as Jazz, Envy and Pacific brand apples are popular with overseas consumers and made up a quarter of apple exports.
An article on ruralnewsgroup.co.nz describes how notable vegetable exports include onions, which had a $170.3 million export value in 2019, more than half supplied to European markets. Also, some $129.4 million of potatoes were exported, mostly in processed form for the Australian market. Potatoes remain a New Zealand favourite too, with Kiwi consumers spending the most on them out of all vegetables purchased.
The top five markets are Continental Europe, Australia, the US, China and Japan. Exports to Asia were $2.6 billion, 42% of total NZ horticulture exports.