New Zealand fruit processing and the European market

Abstract

The New Zealand fruit processing industry is composed of a large number of small scale, relatively inefficient (by international standards) factories. The largest New Zealand fruit processing business is still small, by international standards, and, although flexible in its operations, the lack of long production runs, combined with relatively high input costs, makes even this firm only a marginal competitor. The problems associated with the size of operation are exacerbated by the large freight component of export sales and, in Europe, significant tariff barriers to processed fruit imports.