Tongan agricultural exporters, Nishi Trading have started trialling air freight shipments of produce, an approach to ensure that fresh quality exports reach customers and markets in New Zealand.

Starting last month, Nishi Trading have exported agricultural products using Air New Zealand freight services. Various fruits, and root crops like taro tarua and swamp taro, along with watermelons, frozen cucurbits, being squash and pumpkin.

The shipments are sent to an importer who in turn, sells them to retail stores such as supermarkets and independent outlets throughout Auckland. Market channels include Fresh Direct, Cibus Food, and MT Marketing.

“It is becoming increasingly challenging to ship fresh produce to New Zealand via sea freight, as delays have led to issues with decay and hygiene. This is why air freight has emerged as a viable option for us, as it only takes three hours,” said the Managing Director for Nishi Trading, Minoru Nishi.

“I believe that after a successful trial, we’re going to see a huge impact in terms of the volume of exported produce. This opens doors for many other farmers to export taro, watermelons, cassava, butternut squash, and other frozen products, ultimately leading to increased income for farmers,” he said.

The family-owned Tongan enterprise, is partnering with the Australian and New Zealand Government-supported Market Development Facility (MDF), in collaboration with Air New Zealand, to trial air freight shipments of agricultural exports from Tonga to New Zealand.

This new export pathway may prove to be a solution for issues such as long delays, and ultimately the spoilage and loss of produce that is sent by sea freight.

With two decades of operation in Tonga, Nishi Trading sources agricultural products from a cluster of growers and packs them for overseas markets.

New packaging

MDF also supported Nishi Trading in trialling new cardboard packaging, designed specifically to maximise space within the air freight containers used by Air New Zealand for fresh produce shipments.

The airline is keen to collaborate with Pacific exporters by expanding their air freight services, providing them with better access to overseas markets.

“By offering our air freight services to exporters, we aim to provide a faster, more efficient and reliable option to the Pacific region, opening up new opportunities for farmers and growers to access global markets in a timely manner,” said Ms Zeena Sahib, Cargo Sales Manager (Pacific), Air New Zealand.

Nishi also emphasised the importance of working closer with airlines such as Air New Zealand to develop mutually beneficial commercial solutions and encouraged other Pacific farmers and exporters to explore air freight as a viable option to foster the growth of their international businesses.