New Zealand cherry producers are flying helicopters low over their orchards to dry off raindrops and protect thousands of tonnes of their product headed to Asia to feed rapidly growing demand from Lunar New Year revelers.
After Taiwan, China has grown to become the second-largest destination for New Zealand cherries in the past seven years. Together they take about 60 percent of New Zealand’s cherry exports, which were worth about NZ$43 million (US$30.98 million) last year.
Last week New Zealand exported 900 tonnes of cherries, the largest amount recorded in a one-week period.
Photo: Reuters
Exports are expected to grow to about NZ$50 million this season, said Tim Jones, chairman of Summerfruit NZ, which represents growers.
“The demand is phenomenal,” said Tracey Burns, who handles international cherry sales at produce exporter Freshmax.
Singapore Airlines said it is re-directing four cargo flights from Auckland to Christchurch this week to pick up 300 tonnes of cherries to be shipped to Taipei, Hong Kong and China.
Exporters and growers said they received constant requests for as much as fruit they could grow during Lunar New Year.
“I had a woman recently calling me up from China wanting 500 tonnes. We only do probably 50 tonnes in our orchard maximum, so I think she was dreaming a little bit,” said Martin Milne, a grower in the town of Cromwell.
All harvesting and sales take place in a two-and-a-half-month season starting in December, but the timeframe for Lunar New Year is even tighter: Growers have to deliver fruit by Monday next week, the deadline set by Asian distributors.
Growers in Central Otago — a mountainous region well-known as a backdrop in the Lord of the Rings films — are paying thousands of dollars per hour to fly helicopters over trees to stop rainfall from cracking fruit.
To ensure the good quality sought by Asian buyers, the choppers have been flying just 1m above the trees, operating like fans to blow away moisture left by recent rain.
“It’s a high-value, fast-moving crop which means it gets a lot less room for glitches like rain,” Summerfruit NZ chief executive officer Marie Dawkins said.
Growers were yesterday racing against forecasts predicting a severe incoming storm.
“At the end of the day the weather is what it is and you can’t do much about it except getting helicopters out,” Milne said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number