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Lesley Wilson: Apple and Pears Chairperson on pipfruit export growth outstripping national export growth · The SME Stream

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From our light at the end of the tunnel file
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: new numbers from our pit fruit industry exports are growing
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and growing at a greater rate than our overall exports
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in the sector is now worth one point nine billion
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: dollars to the economy. Apple and Pears tierperson Leslie Wilson's
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: with us, Leslie.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Morning, good morning.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm very well indeed, so it puts you at
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the same sort of value as wine and wine gets
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the headlines. Is there a great story in pitfruit to
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: be told that you need to be telling louder and
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: more widely.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely so. Our GDP is just under a billion,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: but it's the flow on effect through the rest of
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: the community that gets us up to neither two billion dollars.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: So in the regional I mean, the regional impacts are huge.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: So we are the third highest contributed GDP in hawks Bay,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: the second in Tesman and Gisbond is our third largest
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: growing region. So yeah, we'd like to get the news
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: out there.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: When we look at well, I'm looking at the numbers
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: this morning, three hundred and forty seven million. This is
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: direct export numbers back a decade ago. Three forty seven
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: gone to eight ninety two. What have we done? Have
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: We just sold more stuff to more people, so.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: We've got approximately the same land area, but it's innovation
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: and so we've got new varieties we're doing giving higher
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: production on the same land area. So we used to
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: do sort of four two three four curtains per hectare
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: a thousand captains per hectare, but now we're doing so
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: much more. And our hecta is where tons of per
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: hectare are going.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Through the route good And who do we sell to?
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And do we sell more of it or are we
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: opening new markets?
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: But at both So we sell to over seventy countries
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: around the world, and we've had sent a huge increase
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: in the Asian market. So you'll see a lot of
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: our newer varieties of sweet and red and they are
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: more firmly to the Asian.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Market, and those Asians will pay big bucks. Right, that's
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the other side of the equation. Not only are we
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: doing more on the land per hect there, but I
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: mean the price per unit at the top end is
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: going up, isn't it.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is it is. And having said that, so
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: are our costs. Our costs are increasing as well. So
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: while our GDP is increasing, our costs are going up
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to so while the benefit to New Zealand is fantastic
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: and these numbers certainly show that the industry is good
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: for New Zealand, the autid gate returns aren't so flesh,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: so we're working on that as well. Good.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Do you see the benefits, the material benefits of these
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: free trade deals they talk about we sign on the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: other day with the UAE, We've got the one with
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the UK the EU. Does that work for people like you?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Absolutely? It's little bits and pieces here and there, and
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: we certainly work with our government officials to try and
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: get the trade barriers down in terms of tariffs and
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: non tariff trade barriers. So our current focus really is
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: greater market access to Japan and and of reduction in
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: tariff in India.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I was going I was going to ask that if
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: they did India tomorrow and it was a good deal,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: what would happen? Would that boom?
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Yes? Yes? So India currently is an emerging or a
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: huge market, an emerging market for New Zealand, and they
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: pay very well because of the tariff. Yes. So we're
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: looking forward to working with Indian government and our government
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to try and get a reduction in those.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Those tariffs and get some free trade in. They're nice
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: to talk to you, Leslie good and so Leslie Wilson,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: New Zealand, Apple and Pair chairperson,