Rockit apples have global liftoff

Hawke’s Bay firm Rockit Global is on track to export 100 million tiny apples this year, but that number is likely to increase to more than 400 million by 2025, after the company made a multimillion dollar investment in a new Hastings headquarters and facilities.

While keeping mum on the size of the investment, chief executive Mark O’donnell said the state-of-the-art, 21,000 square metre pack house, cool store and global office used artificial intelligence to sort, pack and store the Prema96 miniature apple variety, for which Rockit Global holds the exclusive world rights.

Apples are washed and dried automatically before a specialised conveyor scanned the fruit, determining size and colour and checked for any anomalies. Software sorted the apples into manual or automated packing lines.

When at full production, Rockit aimed to pack 400,000 to 500,000 tubes of its snack apples a day, O’donnell said.

The company was sold four years ago by the founder Phil Alison to equity investors James Beale of Oriens Capital and Craig Styris of Pioneer Capital.

In March, the completion of a successful capital raise to fund the new facility and new orchards was announced.

Nga¯i Tahu Holdings took a 6 per cent stake, and foundation investor Punchbowl Investments, along with its PB Rock group of investors, increased their combined stake to 15 per cent.

There was already a lot of iwi investment in Rockit orchards, particularly from Hawke’s Bay, including prominent kiwifruit growers Nga¯ i Tu¯ kairangi Trust, O’donnell said.

Local iwi Nga¯ti Kahungunu gifted the name Te Ipu (meaning a bowl that provides sustenance) to the new facility, and chairman

Ngahiwi Tomoana blessed and opened the site.

Pioneer Capital remains the largest stakeholder in Rockit Global, holding around 40 per cent.

The apples, marketed under the brand name Rockit, were currently sold in 30 markets, and demand continues to grow exponentially across the United States, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

A number of projects were on the horizon to support the company’s continued growth, O’donnell said.

‘‘There’s a suite of new onorchard technology to fully roll out, new countries to access, hundreds of hectares of plantings to facilitate here and overseas as demand grows, as well as a further expansion of [the Hastings facility], earmarked for 2023.

‘‘The footprint of the land should allow us to double the size of our packing area and finished goods storage.’’

The miniature apple, weighing just 100 grams, is a world first. It took 20 years of breeding by New Zealand Plant and Food scientists to develop and was sold as a specialty snack.

The apples were a hybrid of the gala and splendour varieties, O’donnell said.

Rockit Global has held the exclusive world rights to the apple since 2010 and has orchards under licence in Australia, the

United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Belgium. The licence expires in 2039, at which time other growers would be able to get in on the act, but without the benefit of the Rockit brand, he said.

Nearly 500 hectares of trees are planted in New Zealand, the largest plantation globally. Another 150ha are due to be planted this year, and 250ha next year.

The apples are sold as a convenience snack food in recyclable and resealable tubes and have just undergone a rebrand.

O’donnell said Rockit Global had been founded as a fastmoving goods company to promote a brand.

The apple already provided a unique point of difference with its size, but the brand and packaging made it stand out from apples sold in a bin.

‘‘We offer a guaranteed premium product into the global market. Covid has really played into our hands as people want to be sure that no-one else has touched the food they’re eating.’’

The New Zealand crop was sold into Asia and the Middle East.

But the apples were not sold here because the packaging could not be recycled here.

The company was working to develop compostable tubes that could be made in New Zealand.