Group brought to N.Z. for pipfruit launch

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 13

Group brought to N.Z. for pipfruit launch

By OLIVER RIDDELL in Wellington

For the first time, the Apple and Pear Marketing Board is launching its pipfruit-selling season in New Zealand rather than overseas.

It has brought a group of influential and important overseas agents and supermarket operators to Wellington for the season’s formal launching at Parliament today.

The board said it was the most important group brought to see New Zealand’s rapidly growing horticultural industry. It included representatives of leading supermarket chains in Britain, Belgium and West Germany, and agents from Austria, the Netherlands, France, Ireland and the United States, who handled more than $lOO million worth of New Zealand horticultural products annually.

The board’s chief executive, Mr Joe Pope, said northern hemisphere

supermarkets were the key to the industry’s future and their increasing interest in New Zealand as an out-of-season source of quality horticultural products was shown by their visit. These people were looking for reliable suppliers of quality products with stable pricing policies, he said, and New Zealand’s disciplined system met their requirements. i

Because of the vital importance of these visitors to the whole horticultural industry, the board had co-ordinated the trip with the Kiwifruit Authority and other horticultural bodies to ensure the group could appreciate the complete range of products here.

The commitment of growers of all horticultural products to disciplined and aggressive export marketing would be clearly demonstrated, Mr Pope said.