The rise of the Red Kiwi

“The colour red is really important to certain countries,” says Evan Heywood from Heywood Orchards in Golden Bay.

In China red is auspicious and associated with life-generating energy such as the sun, blood and fire.

It is the colour of celebrations and prosperity, so it seems fitting that Zespri have reported that the number of RubyRed Kiwifruit being exported, compared to last year, has almost tripled, with 330,000 trays of the red fruit being shipped to Japan, China, Singapore and Taiwan.

“The RubyRed have a few points of difference to the green or gold kiwifruit. It looks different and its flavour profile is different,” says Evan.

The RubyRed also has a different nutritional value containing antioxidants such as anthocyanins that are naturally occurring pigments within the fruit giving the fruit its red colour. Research shows that anthocyanins can contribute to improved mood and wellbeing.

“It’s all these subtle differences that make this variety appealing to new customers, both for the export and domestic markets,” says Evan.

It’s only the second season of commercial production of the RubyRed and orchards such as Heywood’s in Golden Bay are a few years off harvesting the RubyReds.

“We grafted our vines last year so are not expecting any fruit until around 2025,” Evan says.

The orchard grafted 3.3 hectares in the fully commercialised red variety.

“We are expecting a high demand for the red variety, as new varieties generally attract a premium price over the commodity varieties,” Evan says.

“It’s also good to have a range of varieties to spread risk.”

Reports of the mild winters affecting kiwifruit have mainly been isolated to the North Island and Fruition Horticulture’s Sandy Scarrow says the winter up North was one of the warmest she could remember, which meant the vines are not getting the required winter chilling.

Last year, Bay of Plenty kiwifruit had poor flowering because of the warm temperatures, and this year the lack of chilling had been even worse. However, Evan explains that “Kiwifruit are like apples and grapes and need a certain amount of winter chilling. So far, we have had enough winter chilling to have not been affected. The region generally had a good season with good flowers, good numbers and good quality fruit.”