Kiwifruit expansion exponential
AUCKLAND: A Bay of Plenty postharvest kiwifruit facility plans to hire hundreds of workers next year after investing tens of millions of dollars in a major expansion project.
Confidence in the kiwifruit industry’s export growth is fuelling the development which has been welcomed by business and industry leaders. Mount Pack & Cool’s plans to expand with new investment in innovation and increased packing and storage capacity at its 6.5ha site at the Tauranga Business Estate.
The company expects to employ about 500 seasonal staff and 100 permanent staff next year.
In January, the privately owned company will start work on stage four of the development, which will have the capacity to handle 24 million trays of class 1 kiwifruit by 2022.
Mount Pack & Cool general manager Brendon Lee said the company had invested ‘‘tens of millions’’ in the expansion, which was important for the Bay.
‘‘We’re one of the lucky industries after going through Covid relatively unscathed.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of people from other industries come work with us and we see it as an opportunity to employ local New Zealanders,’’ the packing operation manager said.
Mr Lee said the Tauriko Business Estate was a great location for the company, being in close proximity to the Port of Tauranga, state highways and the town centre, which helped to attract local staff.
‘‘In terms of future value, it’s wellconditioned for whatever the future holds.’’
He said the business’ rapid growth reflected the industry’s and Zespri’s positive market outlook.
It was also a sign of growers’ confidence in the company’s ability to deliver strong returns year after year, he said.
The facility has been operating at Tauriko since May 2018 and now has three seasons under its belt, packing kiwifruit for growers across the Bay.
Mr Lee said the company had significant growth in three years, from harvesting 6 million trays in 2018 to 12 million trays in 2020. Next year, Mount Pack & Cool expects to handle at least 15 million trays. — The New Zealand Herald