Kiwifruit industry in New Zealand Department of Conservation, responsible for protecting public land, classify "Actinidia deliciosa" as an environmental weed. Kiwifruit industry in New Zealand Kiwifruit or kiwi is a major horticultural export earner for New Zealand. New Zealand developed the first commercially viable kiwifruit and developed export markets, creating the demand for the fruit that exists today. Today New Zealand is the third largest kiwifruit producing country, next to China and Italy, and holds approximately 30% of the market share. In the 2008-2009 season the value of New Zealand kiwifruit exports was NZ$1.45 billion. Cultivation of the fuzzy kiwifruit spread from China in the
Actinidiaceae Actinidiaceae The Actinidiaceae are a small family of flowering plants commonly known as the Chinese gooseberry family. The family has three genera and about 360 species and is a member of the order Ericales. They are temperate and subtropical woody vines, shrubs, and trees, native to Asia ("Actinidia" or kiwifruit, "Clematoclethra", and "Saurauia") and Central America and South America ("Saurauia" only). "Saurauia", with its 300 species, is the largest genus in this family. Although now confined to Asia and tropical Central and South America, evidence indicates in the past the family had a wider distribution. The now extinct genus "Parasaurauia"