The opening of a new packhouse and four cool stores in Te Puke will provide the necessary reassurance to the burgeoning kiwifruit industry. The $40 million, 5,400 m2 packhouse and cool store complex was developed by Bay of Plenty kiwifruit and avocado orchard management and post-harvest company DMS Progrowers. The new packhouse will enable DMS to double its packing capacity at the Te Puke site.
In 2021, the company packed 14.2 million trays of kiwifruit at two sites, but the new complex will extend that to 17 million trays in 2022. DMS is the first post-harvest company since 2019 to build a new packhouse in the Bay of Plenty, an initiative prompted by the region’s record-breaking kiwifruit crop.
Source: sunlive.co.nz