T&G Global this week announced its grower returns for the 2024 apples season, delivering increased value to its network of Aotearoa New Zealand growers.
Returns for its premium ENVY™ and JAZZ™ apple brands are the highest for a number of seasons, delivering over $124 million back to growers. This reflects the value and investment T&G has made in building consumer demand for its global brands, supported by world-class growing, post-harvest, supply chain systems, and strong in-market sales and marketing teams.
Shane Kingston, T&G’s Chief Operating Officer Apples, said off the back of a challenging few years, it is great to see the company’s vision and investment strengthen grower returns.
“Significant effort has gone in over the last six years to build premium global apple brands, underpinned by integrated, best-in-class systems, from unique plant varieties, growing and quality, right through to sales and marketing,” says Shane.
“Despite the setbacks from Cyclone Gabrielle and COVID-19, we’ve put considerable effort into ensuring that consumers and customers around the world experience high quality, great tasting premium apples.
“While this year’s Hawke’s Bay crop was smaller in both size and volume given wet and cold conditions during spring, the quality and colour was among the best in recent years. Our focus on maximising the value of this year’s fruit by strategically targeting the right markets and channels, ensuring apples met stringent market requirements, and selling early, delivered a great outcome to our growers.”
In 2024, returns for ENVY™ apples increased $3.65 per carton compared to 2023, while JAZZ™ apples achieved an increase of $5.60 per carton.
Alongside its premium branded portfolio, T&G’s apples portfolio includes large volumes of Royal Gala, Pacific Queen™, POPPI™, Fuji, Braeburn and Pink Lady, and they too have delivered strong pricing for growers.
“Instead of only investing in one or two international markets, we employ a diversified marketing and sales approach that saw our high-quality commercial varieties exported to numerous countries, garnering returns that were approximately 15% higher on average than 2023 across all varieties,” Shane explained.
“This strategy ensured resilience against turbulent international market conditions, and we were able to maintain strong prices throughout the season, maximising returns for our Aotearoa New Zealand growers.
“In Asia, our Aotearoa New Zealand-grown crop sold in a consistent and timely manner, reflecting the quality of the fruit and strength of our brands, and in November we seamlessly transitioned to our high-quality US-grown ENVY™ and JAZZ™ apples. The US fruit has been well-received and with strong sales expected over the next few months, we look forward to transitioning back to our locally-grown crop in April 2025.”
