The world is eating our lunch: How our apples, seafood and avocados make millions

Photo: RNZ Five years after Who's Eating NZ, this series revisits where our food goes - but this time through the lens of Kiwi breakfast, lunch and dinner staples. We track how much of what we produce is eaten here, and who has a seat at our global table during meal times. Today, it's lunch time. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon memorably advised parents unhappy with supplied school lunches to "make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag". New Zealand certainly does enjoy an abundance of apples. We grow so many that almost nine out of 10 are sold overseas, fresh and processed. The bumper crop is no accident. There has been a concerted push to grow the apple export industry with the development and marketing of new varieties. Royal gala and Braeburn apples have been joined by Jazz, Envy and Rockit. Back in 2012, the industry set a goal of reaching $1 billion in exports by 2022. At that time, exports were sitting at $340 million. The target was missed in 2022, but exceeded in 2025 when exports of $1.26b were achieved. New challenges come with that success though. Horticulture company T&G won a court order in China, forcing orchards in China to rip out illegally grown knock-offs of its Envy variety. China clearly has developed a taste for our apples - it was our biggest apple buyer in 2025, followed by Taiwan, Vietnam and India. For local apple buyers, prices fluctuate through the year, with the highest prices occurring in January. In 2007, 1kg of apples cost $3.89. In January 2025 a kilogram of apples cost $6.15. The humble avocado might be one of the most controversial foods around. Along with being blamed for creating a generation of renters, its notoriously slippery stone has meant millions in ACC payouts for 'avocado hand' injuries, and telling someone they "have the avocados" can spark a language debate. As well as being keen consumers, New Zealand makes a solid contribution to the global supply of avocados. More than 4700 hectares of the country is planted in avocados, with most concentrated in the Far North and Bay of Plenty. About 50 percent of what was grown locally last year remained in the country, the rest heading offshore. Australia is the biggest buyer, purchasing about a third of our exports in 2025, down from a peak of 90 percent in 2020. Far smaller quantities are bought by South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Export earnings have fallen from a 2020 high of $177m to $102m, as New Zealand competes with other global growers, such as Peru, which had a bumper crop in 2025. New Zealand Avocado chief executive Brad Siebert said countries such as Mexico, Peru, Columbia and South Africa are producing more avocados, which leads to volatile prices. Demand globally is increasing, but at a slow, sometimes uneven pace. Domestic prices rise and fall annually, often peaking in May. The highest price per kg of $28.67 was in May 2019. Seafood might be hard to miss in an office lunchroom, but in the data it disappears. It is incredibly hard to put a figure on how much commercially caught seafood ends up in our lunchboxes compared to what's exported. The industry body Seafood NZ said there's been no need to collect domestic information and this position hasn't changed since RNZ examined seafood exports in 2020. It is possible to take some stabs at the number. Previously published figures include 90 percent, 77 percent, and numbers previously on Seafood New Zealand's website say approximately 450,000 tonnes of seafood is caught each year, with 276,901 tonnes exported. This comes out at about 63 percent - but working on caught weight versus exported weight is not accurate. Fish is gutted and often filleted before export, so it is impossible to match the caught weight up with export data. Sanford's 2025 annual report says about 82 percent of its sale value is from exports. Where our seafood goes has shifted over time. In the 1990s, Japan, Australia and the United States were the biggest buyers of our seafood, but by 2011 China emerged as the top buyer. Its spending peaked in 2022 at $709m but by 2025 dropped to $594m. Seafood exports earned $2b in 2024 and 2025. The biggest single export earner was live rock lobster - China bought $290m worth of them. Crayfish might not be on everyone's lunch menu, but rock lobster has been New Zealand seafood's biggest export earner since 2017 with around 2500 tonnes exported each year, earning between $266m and $392m. Export volumes hit a record 2700 tonnes in 2025. The demand has put pressure on crayfish populations. In December it was announced that commercial and recreational fishing for rock lobster will be banned from April 2026 off Northland's east coast in an effort to halt the species rapid decline in the area. Despite high-profile controversy about global beverage giants bottling our water, exported New Zealand water actually represents a small proportion compared to what's sold locally. An exact figure for local sales is hard...

The world is eating our lunch: How our apples, seafood and avocados make millions

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