NEW ZEALAND – Zespri Chief, Lain Jager, has said that the company has ended its relationship with Dalian Yidu, one of its four Chinese importers.

As we previously reported, staff members at Dalian Yidu were arrested by Chinese customs last month for allegedly importing prohibited fruit.

“Obviously we continue to monitor the situation with Yidu. Right now we have suspended our business relationship with them,” Jager told the New Zealand Herald.

He added, “We continue to believe that we don’t have any exposure from a kiwifruit perspective. Certainly there is no financial exposure and we do not think that we are implicated in any way.”

At the time, Dalian Yidu was Zespri’s sole importer for Northeast China, though it only dealt with 5% of the company’s total kiwifruit volume in China.

A Zespri spokesperson added in an interview with 3 News, “Zespri’s NZ supply season to our markets, including China, finished quite a while ago and Zespri has no financial exposure to Yidu.”

For now, Zespri is watching the situation and waiting to see what unfolds.

Zespri