In the Eastern Cape, tons of class 2 and juicing fruit (oranges, lemons, soft citrus) had to be dumped away from orchards at a designated site.  The reason for this is due to the high freight costs by shipping lines, resulting in growers/farmers being paid much less this season for the fruit and class 2 exports made impossible by logistical costs. Currently it is not worthwhile packing class 2 lemons to the Middle East as the price doesn’t even cover the packing costs. World markets are being negatively affected and 20% of the South African citrus industry will end the season just above breakeven costs.

The trend in the Middle East is the same for the last few weeks and the market continues to be under tremendous pressure this season with poor and unstable market conditions, slow sales rates, and price levels especially for citrus fruits. There will be some relief for the Middle East market for the next two weeks as less volume of oranges will be shipped to the Middle East, as citrus growers has shifted their focus to Europe to maximize packing and ship as much volume as possible to meet the European duty deadline in October.

• Citrus
• Pome
• Grape, Stone & Kiwi Fruit
• India & Bangladesh
• PPECB Statistics

South African citrus growers have about two weeks left to load oranges and mandarins to meet the duty deadline in Europe which is the 15^th of October.  For this reason, all citrus growers will maximize the packing of Valencia’s and mandarins for Europe. Supply to other markets will therefore only pick up after two weeks, and from week 37 onwards. However, some growers/farmers in the northern areas will be finished packing Valencia’s by week 37, while others will have two weeks left of packing for the citrus season.

Market update

The Middle East market remains under pressure for citrus fruit, and this is contributed to unstable market and the higher volumes of oranges being shipped to the GCC countries. The market is optimistic that demand and sales will improve with the start of the new school year at the beginning of September and when “local residents” return from vacation.

However, there has been an overall decrease in the volume of oranges and soft citrus shipped from South Africa to the Middle East from week 32-33 and this is due to growers maximizing volumes to Europe for the next two weeks to meet the duty deadline in Europe.

There has been an overall increase in the volume of citrus shipped YTD from South Africa to the Middle East market by the end of week 33 compared to the same period last season. Exported volumes indicate 1% decrease on oranges, lemons are up 7%. However, soft citrus decreased by 5%.

Update on Kiwi Fruit and a market update in the GCC countries

The Middle East market continues to be under pressure, with low sales rate and price levels for Chilean Kiwi fruit.  No new arrivals of Chilean Kiwi fruit as Chile is at the tail-end of their Kiwi fruit season.

Zespri Sun Gold Kiwifruit was particularly affected by quality issues this season. In addition to the impact on grower returns, the quality issues are putting pressure on the company’s reputation and an urgent solution to the quality problem needs to be found.

India

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Bangladesh

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