Zespri has delivered the biggest financial result in its history, returning a record 3.56 billion New Zealand dollars to growers and lifting net profit 80 percent to 280.1 million dollars from a 2025 season that sold 248.1 million trays of kiwifruit.
The kiwifruit marketer announced the result on 20 May 2026, with global fruit sales revenue of 5.9 billion dollars, up from 5.0 billion the previous year. Tray volume jumped from 220.9 million to 248.1 million, both numbers records for the Mount Maunganui-based exporter.
Profit excluding licence revenue, which Zespri treats as a cleaner measure of trading performance because licence sales for new orchard plantings tend to be lumpy, came in at 123.8 million dollars. That was up 55 percent on the 79.8 million reported a year earlier and was the highest number Zespri has recorded on that basis.
Direct returns to the New Zealand industry, the figure growers and packhouses actually receive, totalled 3.56 billion dollars across the Bay of Plenty, Northland, the East Coast, Nelson and the Waikato. That was up from 3.04 billion the previous year and feeds through into orchard incomes that ripple through small towns from Te Puke to Kerikeri. Zespri’s expected total net dividend is 1.39 dollars per share, paid in addition to the orchard gate returns that flow to its grower-shareholders.
“These results are something the industry can be proud of, particularly given we delivered a record crop in a much more challenging and complex environment,” said chief executive Jason Te Brake. He said record per-hectare returns and improved per-tray returns reflected better yields plus the company’s ability to secure strong value for growers, shareholders and the wider community through the strength of its brand and supply chain.
Per-hectare returns hit record levels across every variety, including Green, Organic Green, SunGold, Organic SunGold, Sweet Green and RubyRed. Zespri’s Northern Hemisphere supply business, which sources kiwifruit from Italy, France, Greece, Japan, South Korea and Chile to keep the brand on shelves year-round, sold 32.3 million trays for 875.9 million dollars, up from 26.5 million trays and 652.4 million the previous year. Northern Hemisphere supply volumes were up 27 percent, which Te Brake said extended the European selling window by about a month.
The result lands at a time when most New Zealand exporters are nervous about the global trade environment. Te Brake has previously flagged concerns about possible United States tariffs on kiwifruit, although demand in North America was strong this season and helped offset weaker performance in some other markets. Farmers Weekly reported that Zespri’s biggest growth markets in 2025 were Europe and North America, with Japan also performing well.
The volume surge also tested infrastructure. Earlier this month the Port of Tauranga warned of a kiwifruit bottleneck as the season hit its peak, turning away some container ships to clear backlogs of reefer boxes. Zespri said more than half its anticipated 2026 sales programme was already at sea when it released its February forecast, which allowed the company to bring sales programmes forward and lengthen the time premium fruit was on shelves in key markets.
Colin Bond, chief executive of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated, said the growing season and harvest had gone relatively smoothly, with good conditions supporting crop production. That marked a recovery from the 2022 and 2023 seasons, when Cyclone Gabrielle, labour shortages and poor fruit quality combined to drag returns down and leave growers across the Bay of Plenty out of pocket.
Looking ahead, Zespri is forecasting a 2026/27 crop of around 220 million trays, slightly below this season’s record, and is targeting 10 percent volume growth by 2030 through higher yields and new orchard plantings. Chair Nathan Flowerday, who took over from Bruce Cameron in March 2024, has overseen the rollout of a 2035 strategy that aims to make Zespri the world’s healthiest fruit brand, built on brand-led demand, transformed global supply and a refreshed product portfolio.
Zespri is unusual among major New Zealand exporters in that it operates under a single-desk model for offshore sales, with most growers required to sell their fruit through the company under the Kiwifruit Export Regulations. Critics have argued the structure leaves growers without competition, but supporters point to the kind of result delivered this season as evidence the model is working. The single-desk arrangement was reviewed by the Ministry for Primary Industries and retained.
For context, the 3.56 billion dollars flowing back to New Zealand growers is larger than the entire annual revenue of many listed New Zealand companies. BusinessDesk noted that kiwifruit has now firmly established itself as one of New Zealand’s most valuable primary exports, sitting alongside dairy, meat and wine in terms of national economic contribution.
The result puts Zespri in a strong position heading into the 2026/27 season, although the company has flagged ongoing challenges around freight, weather and geopolitics that could still bite. For growers, the immediate story is record orchard returns and record per-hectare payouts. For the wider New Zealand economy, it is another sign that horticulture, and kiwifruit in particular, is doing some of the heaviest lifting on the export ledger.
What do you make of Zespri’s record season? Is the single-desk export model serving New Zealand well, or is it time for a fresh look? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
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