Apple exporters have killed off a Pipfruit New Zealand proposal to impose minimum quality standards on apples heading to Australia.

Last month, Pipfruit NZ chief executive, Peter Beaven, told Country 99TV the organization was surveying the apple industry to see whether it would agree to coming under the Horticultural Export Authority or HEA.

Mr Beaven says the HEA would have given the industry a united front when it came to exporting. 

While 74 percent of growers voted in favour of apples coming under the HEA, 63 percent of exporters voted against it – killing the proposal. 

Ian Palmer, chairman of Pipfruit New Zealand says he is ‘shocked and frustrated’ by the vote and will be approaching Agriculture Minister David Carter to seek advice.

In a letter to politicians, one apple exporter, Phil Alison, said he was strongly opposed to apples being included in the HEA.

Mr Alison, of Rockit Apple, said the bureaucratic nature of the HEA would impose extra costs on the industry, was undemocratic and lacked benefits.

Mr Alison questioned why the industry left it so late to discuss the HEA when access to Australia had been in the pipelines for a decade. 

However, MPs like Labour’s Damien O’Connor say it is only a matter of time before unscrupulous exporters undermine the industry for everyone by sending low grade apples over the ditch.

With Australia on high alert for suspect New Zealand apples, Mr O’Connor says our new export market could be shut down because of apple exporters looking to make a quick buck.

Turners & Growers have said they voted against the HEA saying Pipfruit New Zealand had watered down the original proposal and now it was ‘pointless being a part of it’.