NZ apple exports plummet by 21%  

New Zealand’s 2022/23 apple production has been revised down sharply to 453,000 tons as a result of the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, which hit the nation’s largest apple growing and exporting region – Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne – in February. Apple exports are forecast at 270,000 tons, almost 21 percent less than the 2021/2022 volume, according to USDA data.

This cyclone struck just as the harvest was starting, and thousands of hectares were either completely washed away by floods or covered in silt. Although efforts and initiatives are already underway in the region to try and recover trees and infrastructure, the impacts to the industry are anticipated to have multiyear effects. Both apple production and exports in 2022/23 are expected to fall to the lowest levels since 2009/2010. Although efforts and initiatives are already underway in the region to try and recover trees and infrastructure, the impacts to the industry are already anticipated to have multiyear effects.