New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri expected its first charter ship for the season to set sail over the weekend, with the MV Atlantic Erica bound for the Japanese market.

In a release, chief executive Lain Jager said the campaign was set for promising growth as volumes return to pre-Psa levels.

The executive said the company was forecasting a harvest of around 30 million trays of gold kiwifruit, 25 million of which will be Gold3 marketed as Zespri SunGold, surpassing the previous high of 29 million trays sold in the 2011 season. This compares to 11 million trays of gold kiwifruit harvested last year.

"We are also looking forward to another great Green crop this year, with more than 70 million trays forecast from a total crop volume of around 108 million trays of premium Zespri Kiwifruit," Jager said.

"The NZ industry continues along the Psa recovery pathway, transitioning from the previous gold variety Hort16A to Gold3 with 4,593 licensed hectares in NZ.

"While the impact of Psa is still being felt across the kiwifruit industry, this remarkable turnaround is testament to the cooperative and pragmatic nature of the industry and the strong support we have received from Government."

The 2015 campaign began in orchards in Gisborne, Katikati and Te Puke last week, with the first of 55 chartered refrigerated ships on its way to Asia. Zespri said 8,000 refrigerated containers would carry this year's harvest to 54 countries around the world, with five ships going directly to Shanghai.

Jager said the company was well on track to selling more than 50 million trays of Gold3 in 2018.

"Our in-market teams are focused on building the demand for Gold3,introducing customers and consumers around the world to this great-tasting new Zespri product," he said.

The release said Zespri continued to serve and develop new opportunities in its long-standing developed markets of of Japan and Europe, as well as developing new markets in rapidly-developing economies including China, the Middle East and Brazil.

Sales in China have grown at about 30% each year over the last decade and are forecast to continue at around 20% until 2020, which puts China in line to becoming Zespri's number one market in a few years' time.

Jager said the first shipment would find strong demand in the Japanese market.

"We’re also looking forward to great-tasting fruit once again this season, helped along by the hot, dry summer and adequate rainfall," he said.

The first ship for Europe is due to depart Tauranga in early April.

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