Central Otago Fruit Growers Association chairman Kris Robb, of Earnscleugh, said the most cherries exported from New Zealand was slightly more than 4200tonnes in the 2017-18 season.
Since that bumper season, nearly twice as many cherry trees were producing fruit in Central Otago. About 90% of the cherries exported from New Zealand were grown in Central Otago, Mr Robb said.
Stats NZ data shows more than $500million of fruit was exported from New Zealand in September this year, more than double of the $243m of fruit exported in September last year.
Mr Robb believed there was a potential to export about 10,000tonne from New Zealand.
‘‘As an industry, we have the potential to make far more of a contribution.’’
Hort Invest Management director Sharon Kirk, of Wānaka, grows nine varieties of cherries across nearly 180ha on three orchards in Mt Pisa and Tarras, and said there was potential for a big crop this season.
Cherries had been exported from her orchards for the past three seasons and the volume had increased each year.
The potential export volumes could not be realised due to the impact of frosts, wind and rain for the past six years.
‘‘You get hit by rain, that destroys your fruit.You get cold springs, you get small-sized fruit,’’ she said.
Chile was New Zealand’s biggest competitor in cherry exports and did a good job of promoting cherries through Asia.
‘‘That’s a positive for us because people are understanding cherries and wanting to buy cherries,’’ she said.
3 Kings Cherries co-owner Tim Paulin, of Earnscleugh,was feeling positive about the upcoming cherry harvest despite weather woes in his orchard near Clyde, where planting began in 2019.
His orchard had been hit by inclement weather this spring including heavy rain during flowering and snow settling on the trees a few weeks ago.
‘‘That may have put a chink in the armour but hopefully not ... it doesn’t look like it’s affected anything but just when you get unusual events, sometimes you just tend to be a wee bit cautious going forward but the orchard looks good now ... it could be a big year,’’ he said.
Plenty of people had been seeking work on the orchard.
‘‘There seems to be lots of people around at the moment. Whether they’ll turn up, I don’t know but there’s a lot of people putting names down.’’
Jackson Orchard office manager Jill Mansell, of Cromwell, said there was a huge number of people looking for jobs in Central Otago.
Jackson Orchards employed about 70 people during the stonefruit season.
Up to 100 people had been applying for work in recent weeks.
Staff shortages due to the impact of the pandemic were no longer an issue, she said.
About a quarter of the applicants were New Zealanders.
‘‘It’s great to see people returning,’’ she said.
— Additional reporting Lauren Pattemore
