N.Z. mushroom exports in jeopardy

Press, 13 June 1979, Page 2

N.Z. mushroom exports in jeopardy

The bottom could fall out t of New Zealand’s overseas mushroom market if DC 10 aircraft remain grounded much longer. This warning came from,] the mam source of com-] mercially grown mushrooms ] in New Zealand, Meadow Mushrooms, Ltd, of Preb-] bleton. The company’s sales. manager. (Mr C. Booth) said.’ yesterday that export con-; signments were being turned away from airports because of the grounding of the DC 10s. Meadow Mushrooms nor-1 mally exported five con-| signments of mushrooms aweek to Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney.’ Only one consignment, which had been pre-booked on a Qantas Boeing 747 flight to Brisbane, was now’ leaving New Zealand, said 1 Mr Booth. The remaining four con-i signments, amounting to five;l tonnes, would be canned or, would find their way on to; the local market If the'; DClOs are grounded much]! longer, this could flood the!: local market, forcing prices!I down, and threatening the? livelihood of many small it commercial growers. Mr Booth said that, al-'s

'though his company undoubtedly would lose money if this trend continued, it could be expected to survive, but many smaller companies would not. i Export orders account for] a third of Meadow Mush-! rooms’ total production. Mr : Booth said that those consignments that were canned] .'would not give the same return to the company as the fresh product. Apart from mushrooms,] airlines are virtually free of; iany perishable cargo at this I time of the year, but the ; grounding of the DC 10s has ’affected other cargo. Air New Zealand has tried |to transfer all its DC 10 cargo to available Qantas | flights, but most of these ■ have already been preI booked, and it is a matter of 'waiting for space. One flight to Brisbane has some space available, and this is being’ ‘filled by DCIO cargo. i Air New Zealand’s international cargo services con- ' trailer (Mr G. G. Wood) said lin Christchurch that the company was coping with 'freight because of a “relatively quiet” period. Some i cargo had been turned back, I particularly mushrooms, he 'said.