20/07/2026
As promised the update on the China trip continues...
After an early morning in Hong Kong watching the World cup final, I ventured with the group across the border by ferry into Shenzhen, Mainland China.
Today we went to look at fruit being sold at a wet market, which is where small quantities of of NZ kiwifruit is sold direct to Chinese consumers. We weren't really sure what to expect, as none of us had been to a "wet market" before.
We were met with a range of different foods for sale including tropical fruit, vegatables, severely undersized snapper, Paua (abalone) , frogs, toads and turtles!
In the mix of fruit for sale was some of Thomas Brothers very own Kiwifruit. The kiwifruit that was found was from the exact sane block where the photo I posted 2 days ago was taken (for our staff reading this it was the block "Hilton North"... Photo attached).
The chances of me finding fruit from this block are extremely rare as Thomas Bros gold kiwi are roughly 0.5% of the nation's crop, let alone this specific block.
***Seeing Thomas Bros fruit for sale overseas has always been a bucket list thing for me to do...
Chatting to some of the customers (those that spoke English), seemed to have a common desire for our kiwifruit as long as a high quality product continued to be delivered.
Later in the day we looked at some of NZ kiwi that had been sold in regular chinese supermarkets and had been repackaged up in a lot of plastic wrapping (much like all other fruit and vegetables over here). The fruit was being sold at a premium, was well presented and was found at the entrance to the supermarkets.
It was great to top the day off by seeing the fruit being sold on the supermarket shelves and sharing dinner, probing the minds and gaining insights of some of the staff from Joy Wing Mau (Zespris largest single customer).
The only summaries I can take from today are that NZ kiwifruit are really considered as a premium fruit over here with a very very heavy focus on a high quality product, which we are delivering (and need to continue to do).
This sets us apart from our competitors (for now)
My next update will be from Chengdu where I will visit Orchards that are currently growing large amounts of kiwifruit, and potentially competing against our locally grown kiwis.
Steve
