Kiwifruit Season

Kiwifruit is in season in Australia from about March through to August, with the best local supply coming in April and May from Victorian orchards. Worth knowing is that Australia produces a relatively small amount of kiwifruit (around 4,224 tonnes in 2024/25) and imports roughly six times that volume each year, mostly from New Zealand under the Zespri brand. That means a good portion of the kiwifruit on Australian shelves at any time of year was grown across the Tasman.

Kiwifruit is primarily an autumn crop in Australia, with peak supply from April to June.

Kiwifruit vines are vigorous, deciduous climbers needing a strong trellis and both male and female plants. One male can pollinate up to five females. Vines take three to four years to bear commercially useful crops and run for 20 years or more once established. Fruit is harvested in late summer and autumn while still firm, then held in cool storage. Like apples, kiwifruit continues to soften off the vine. Victoria's cool, humid growing regions have proven the best Australian fit and account for around two thirds of national production, per DAFF.

The kiwifruit vine is native to central and eastern China. Seeds were brought to New Zealand in the early 20th century, where the Hayward cultivar was selected and commercial plantings took off. New Zealand's marketers coined the name "kiwifruit" in 1959. The fruit had previously been sold as "Chinese gooseberry", which wasn't doing it any favours in the American market, per Wikipedia. In Australia, Victoria contributes around 66% of national production (ranges east and north-east of Melbourne, where cool winters give vines the chilling hours they need), with NSW (9%), WA (9%), SA (8%) and Queensland (7%) making up the rest, per DAFF.

According to Hort Innovation, Australia produced 4,224 tonnes of kiwifruit in 2024/25 worth $18.1 million at the farm gate, a fraction of domestic appetite. In the same year Australia imported 28,745 tonnes valued at $131.5 million, more than seven times the value of local production. New Zealand (predominantly Zespri) is the dominant supplier. Approved import sources also include France, Italy, Japan and the US, per DAFF, which is also assessing a market access request from China, the world's largest kiwifruit producer at 2.38 million tonnes in 2022. Domestic production has trended down from a 2016/17 peak of around 9,800 tonnes, dipping to 3,893 tonnes in 2022/23 before recovering slightly to 4,224 tonnes in 2024/25, likely reflecting growers moving out of a crop where imports set a competitive price ceiling.