New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri has registered strong sales this year for gold variety SunGold, with the majority of the crop going to Japan while South Korea and China have also received significant allocations.

"We’ve had an overall positive response to this juicy new variety and its refreshing sweet/sour taste balance in Japan, the rest of Asia, Europe and North America," president of global sales and marketing Dan Mathieson said in a release.

"With an increased volume, we’re now able to transition from Hort16A (Gold) to SunGold in more key markets and sales are going well."

The company is looking to broaden the market mix for the variety with volume set to reach 50 million trays by 2018. While total gold volume is down, Zespri hopes to create a platform across markets to build upon once volumes recover in 2014.

"Work is ongoing to educate Zespri’s customers – our distributors, wholesalers and retailers – and the consumers who buy Zespri Kiwifruit about this great new gold variety. Zespri SunGold has a different shape and taste profile to our original Zespri Gold and customers are recognising that this is another quality product from Zespri.

"We’ve had a favourable response to date and the conversations with our customers and consumers are ongoing to gain full acceptance of this exciting new variety. We’re working hard to ensure consistency of taste across grower lines for next season.

"New products are always challenging but we have confidence in the market appeal and supply chain performance of SunGold. The fruit quality has been really good this year and if we continue to get it right, we have every faith in the success of this variety."

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