The share price in publicly listed Seeka Kiwifruit Industries was unchanged at $3.10 and Satara Co-operative Investment shares were steady at $1 late yesterday, after emerging from a 24-hour trading halt.
The halt was spurred by confirmation on Monday of the discovery of a canker disease known as PSA.
The disease is present in kiwifruit orchards in Japan, Italy and Korea, but there is widespread fear its discovery in vines in the Bay of Plenty could shut the $1.5 billion-dollar export earner out of some key markets.
Te Puke-based Seeka produces 1.2 million trays of the PSA-susceptible gold kiwifruit and 300,000 trays of green fruit a year from 1100ha of leased orchards.
In addition, through post-harvest processing in 13 packhouses and 30 coolstores, Seeka handles 23% of New Zealand gold and 25% of green fruit crops.
Agriculture Minister David Carter will hold talks today with Bay of Plenty kiwifruit growers and industry representatives after symptoms of PSA were found on a second Te Puke orchard.
The new infestation is over the road from where the first infected vines were discovered at the end of last week.
In a statement to the New Zealand Stock Exchange, Seeka said none of its orchards or suppliers have PSA, which has devastated half of Zespri's Italian production of gold variety fruit.
Seeka chief executive Michael Franks stressed canker disease affected only kiwifruit vines, not the fruit, and carried no risk to humans or animals.
It could be managed with the company implementing control and hygiene protocols throughout its orchard operations.
"PSA has been successfully managed through appropriate horticulture practices in Korea and Japan."
Satara Co-operative has been involved in the industry for 35 years and operates packhouses in Whangarei and Bay of Plenty, packing fruit but also managing 320ha of kiwifruit.
It has investor shares listed on the NZAX, with the majority of its growers also Satara shareholders.
MAF Biosecurity was still trying to determine the strain of PSA and how widely it had spread through the industry, a process that took take three weeks, but there is already industry speculation that it has arrived through plant imports.
Fairfax reported that since 2000, six consignments of budwood have been imported, including two from Italy, and six consignments of pollen from China and Chile.
In a statement to Parliament yesterday, Agriculture Minister David Carter said it appeared the disease may have been in the country for some time and it was spread by pollen, heavy rain, strong wind, animals and humans.
Labour Party biosecurity spokesman Damien O'Connor blamed Government funding cuts for the outbreak, saying 54 biosecurity jobs were cut in 2009 to pay for a new computer system.
