Citrus News:
Nichola Watson
L
ast week the Citrus Marketing Forum (CMF) of
Southern Africa met in Johannesburg to consider the growers’ estimate for expected Southern
African citrus exports in 2016 and concluded
that, despite the adverse effects of the drought and
hail experienced in key producing areas, the industry
was well positioned to meet its market demands.
It is expected that a total of 111.2 million cartons
(15kg) of citrus will be packed and passed for export
from citrus producers in South Africa, Zimbabwe and
Swaziland in 2016. This is a decrease of six percent on
the 2015 export crop. "General trends to be expected
across most varieties for the season include excellent
eating quality, smaller than average sizing and superior
external appearance – all due to the warm and dry climatic conditions experienced during the past summer,"
said a spokesperson.
Valencia Oranges
Growers estimate the Valencia orange crop to be down
by twelve percent from the record 52.7m cartons in
2015, to 46.4m in 2016. The areas of Letsitele, Senwes
and Hoedspruit, which jointly produce almost fifty percent of all Valencia oranges from Southern Africa, have
all highlighted the drought and hail damage as the major contributing factors to the reduction in volume.
However, at the time of publishing, late rain has arrived
in most of the Northern growing areas, which will have
a positive effect on the crop, especially in regard to
fruit size.
Navel Oranges
The Navel orange crop is estimated to be up by just
over two percent to 25.1m cartons. Although Senwes
was badly affected by the drought and hail and expected to be down by fourteen percent, the Eastern
Cape growing regions of Sundays River Valley and
Patensie will be up by seven- and nine percent respectively, with the Western Cape also expected to be up by
as much as fourteen percent.
Figures are millions of 15 kg equivalent cartons for comparison purposes and includes volumes from
Swaziland and Zimbabwe