Growers here say Zespri has not only lost the intellectual property, it has lost control of the variety in China, with the growth in the illicit fruit threatening Zespri s stake in its largest market. Zespri s solution is to put its sticker on the counterfeit fruit in a controlled commercial trial, giving technology and advice to the Chinese growers who are producing the illicit fruit. SunGold growers in New Zealand will vote on the plan in June and some aren t happy about it. Today
The Detail explores the SunGold saga with journalist Richard Rennie, who writes for Farmers Weekly and other agri business publications.
Growers here say Zespri has not only lost the intellectual property, it has lost control of the variety in China, with the growth in the illicit fruit threatening Zespri s stake in its largest market.
Zespri s solution is to put its sticker on the counterfeit fruit in a controlled commercial trial, giving technology and advice to the Chinese growers who are producing the illicit fruit.
SunGold growers in New Zealand will vote on the plan in June and some aren t happy about it.
Today
Farmers Weekly and other agri business publications. Zespri have found themselves on the horns of a dilemma, says Rennie. They found that there s a lot of illegally grown SunGold in the Sichuan province and it’s only likely to grow further.
Managing China s theft of NZ s SunGold kiwifruit rnz.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rnz.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Zespri yet to see a cent of big damages award as Chinese SunGold growing rip off spreads
1 Feb, 2021 04:00 PM
5 minutes to read
NZ SunGold, which saved kiwifruit industry after disease plague, is being grown unlawfully in China. Photo / File Kiwifruit marketer Zespri, working diplomatically to limit a serious threat from rogue growing of its blue chip SunGold variety in China, is still chasing payment of court-awarded damages against the Chinese grower who unlawfully took it out of New Zealand.
The High Court in Auckland in February last year awarded $15m damages to Zespri after it took civil action in 2018 against grower Haoyu Gao, his wife and their company Smiling Face Ltd, after discovering two of its protected varieties were being propagated in China by Gao and his associates.