Zespri acts on unlicensed plants

Zespri is preparing to take a civil case in China against growers who have illegally planted the gold kiwifruit variety SunGold.

The Tauranga-based marketing cooperative said there could be as many as

2000-2500 hectares planted in the variety, which has enjoyed worldwide success since it was launched in 2010.

The figure is a large increase on a previous estimate two years ago of about

100ha. In New Zealand there are 6500ha of SunGold, with a further 1100ha licensed overseas. The fruit is sold at a premium to most other varieties.

Sales of SunGold represent about half of Zespri’s total revenue of $2.94 billion per year.

Zespri chief grower and alliances officer Dave Courtney said that while sales of the fruit had not yet affected the co-op, because its market share in China was still growing, it wanted to protect its intellectual property.

China buys more than $500 million worth of kiwifruit per year from Zespri and is its biggest market.

‘‘We are aware the variety has been grown by smaller household growers but what we are noticing is there are a couple of bigger, more commercial players picking it up which has made us step in.

‘‘Right now it is not impacting on us unless we could have sold that licence but we are not selling licences offshore anyway. The potential cost if left to grow is that it would displace New Zealand fruit from the shelf but we are a long way off that,’’ Courtney said. Zespri owns plant rights to the new SunGold for at least another 18 years, so only growers contracted to the co-operative can plant it. Last year, Zespri launched a case in New Zealand against a person who allegedly sent SunGold plants to China. Courtney said Zespri was monitoring orchards and supply channels to understand the scale of the issue, as well as to obtain evidence for legal proceedings. Previous cases over trademark violations gave it confidence. ‘‘We have had success pursuing trademark infringement as a criminal matter; we have had fines issued against people who have used our brand, especially in Shanghai. ‘‘We are working with a law firm in China and here in New Zealand.’’ China is in the process of updating its plant variety rights laws to bring them into line with the most recent international standards.

The illegal plantings are not the first affecting Zespri in China. In the early 2000s, the gold variety Hort16A was planted over about 1000ha but did not appear significantly in stores.

Zespri meanwhile has reported its New Zealand season is drawing to a close, with a final ship leaving this week.