The future of new kiwifruit variety Zespri Sweet Green is unclear, with growers struggling to produce commercial volumes and consumers failing to distinguish it from conventional Hayward Green.

Zespri CEO Lain Jager says the company is committed to marketing Sweet Green through to the 2016/17 season before confirming a view of its future, including commercially viability for growers.

Consumers love the taste of the new sweet green kiwifruit, but so far it's not so sweet for growers. Photo: File.

Lain says growers are working hard to improve Zespri Sweet Green's challenging levels of yield and fruit size, while Zespri is continuing its in-market research into the positioning of the fruit.

Katikati grower Phillipa Wright told the marketer's annual general meeting that the variety, also known as G14, is not easy to grow and yields so far have been disappointing.

Last season growers received $7.08 a tray for the fruit, but because the variety has not yet achieved full commercial production levels, the average orchard gate per hectare return was $29,682.

This is compared with $53.884 per hectare for Hayward green fruit and $73,890 per hectare for gold fruit.

Zespri's presidentofglobal sales and marketing, Dan Mathieson, says this season was the third trial of marketing Sweet Green and its taste is well received by consumers.

But they find it difficult to differentiate the fruit from conventional green, and a sustainable premium, over conventional green, for G14 appears to be around 10 per cent.

Should the fruit be de-commercialised, it will be the second new variety to be removed from Zespri's product list in recent years.

A gold variety G9, while enjoyed by consumers for its taste, has developed a storage problem and an estimated 130 ha of the vines are being removed from production.

However, Zespri and Plant & Food Research are focused on developing a commercial red kiwifruit by fast-tracking colonial trails of potential cultivars.

There are already red kiwifruit being grown internationally, but despite a strong market potential for high-quality, great tasting red cultivars, Zespri says to date, red kiwifruit have tended to be small in size and do not store well.