"The orchards are white with flowers and it is all looking promising at the moment," says Jako van Lill, Head of the Stone and Pome Fruit Department at Fruits Unlimited.
"This is the case for stonefruit as a whole, but some of the early apricots in the Klein-Karoo even have fruit as big as my thumb on the trees. We are looking to start exporting apricots in 4-5 weeks via airfreight, it is still too early to say for the plums but the early varieties such as African Rose have a good fruit set."
As for the weather, you can never tell, but at the moment there are nice warm temperatures for ideal for flowering and there there plenty of bees around doing their work.
"The first peaches have been picked this week for the local markets, albeit in very small quantities, next week we will see more volumes and we will start with our first deliveries to Woolworths. The season is very much underway in the north," according to Jako.
Export markets"The UK will be one of our main destination, it seems that they want to start early, as European stone was short this year. This does not necessarily translate into high prices though, as prices for the domestic crop were low this year. Will have to wait and see what price level we start off at," explains Jako.
"Traditionally South African stonefruit gets a higher price than domestic fruit in Europe, and the Rand is also a bit stronger now, which is promising. We had a good year last year when we shipped 10-11% less of plums and our grower returns were very good, so expectations are high from the grower's side, but still with a touch of caution. They say South African stonefruit is preferred by the European and UK retailers as it seems to encourage sales more than stonefruit from other countries."
The Middle Eastern market depends on the customer, according to Jako. "Retail prices are usually fixed but in wholesale it is more supply and demand which determines the price, but apricots are usually popular in that market."
New Markets
As yet there is no access for stone fruit to China as it is not on the priority list it seems, the avocado and pears are next in line, so it may take a couple of years yet. But, Jako said, they need this market, due to the huge volumes bought at markets each year in China. At Guangzhou market they handle more than 300 containers of fruit and vegetables each day.
"We are exploring other Asian markets but there are psytosanitary conditions to consider, and in the past South Africa has never had varieties which were capable of reaching these markets via sea," explains Jako. "It is a bit like pioneering work at the moment. At Fruits Unlimited we are dominating the late plum market with our Zaiger Interspecific (pluot) varieties. These can also make the journey to the far off destinations so it is down to us send the samples and do the ground work in new markets. We need to let customers see and taste these fruits and get to know them and build on that."
What does help is that some of these varieties are already known, as they are commercially available from the US. "It would be great go year round with the US supplying from the Northern Hemisphere and South Africa from the Southern Hemisphere, but it does not necessarily mean that, just because they already take fruit from the US, they automatically take the South African fruit - it has to be tried and tested first."
The Flavor Fall late plum harvest is now close to 50% of the planted acreage, there is still more to come, and volumes are increasing every year. "In the last three years we have managed to create a preference for the Flavor Fall over other varieties. We are also finally seeing interest from the African markets, they are now aware that they can ship the Flavor Fall in the same containers as apples and pears at -0.5 °C. The Flavor Fall can also last well at ambient temperatures which benefits the African traders, where infrastructure is not always the best. The interest is growing and people are now even asking for full containers of Flavor Fall in Africa."
"Our other focus has been on European retailers and now, from our total shipments to EU, 2/3rds goes to the supermarkets, which is very encouraging," says Jako. "We have seen a very good momentum build in the last three years and want to keep that going, we know that we can supply a lot more in the coming years."
For more information:
Jako van Lill
Fruits Unlimited
Tel: +27 21 860 1800
Email: jako@fruits.co.za
www.fruits.co.za/
The Middle Eastern market depends on the customer, according to Jako. "Retail prices are usually fixed but in wholesale it is more supply and demand which determines the price, but apricots are usually popular in that market."
New Markets
As yet there is no access for stone fruit to China as it is not on the priority list it seems, the avocado and pears are next in line, so it may take a couple of years yet. But, Jako said, they need this market, due to the huge volumes bought at markets each year in China. At Guangzhou market they handle more than 300 containers of fruit and vegetables each day.
"We are exploring other Asian markets but there are psytosanitary conditions to consider, and in the past South Africa has never had varieties which were capable of reaching these markets via sea," explains Jako. "It is a bit like pioneering work at the moment. At Fruits Unlimited we are dominating the late plum market with our Zaiger Interspecific (pluot) varieties. These can also make the journey to the far off destinations so it is down to us send the samples and do the ground work in new markets. We need to let customers see and taste these fruits and get to know them and build on that."
What does help is that some of these varieties are already known, as they are commercially available from the US. "It would be great go year round with the US supplying from the Northern Hemisphere and South Africa from the Southern Hemisphere, but it does not necessarily mean that, just because they already take fruit from the US, they automatically take the South African fruit - it has to be tried and tested first."
The Flavor Fall late plum harvest is now close to 50% of the planted acreage, there is still more to come, and volumes are increasing every year. "In the last three years we have managed to create a preference for the Flavor Fall over other varieties. We are also finally seeing interest from the African markets, they are now aware that they can ship the Flavor Fall in the same containers as apples and pears at -0.5 °C. The Flavor Fall can also last well at ambient temperatures which benefits the African traders, where infrastructure is not always the best. The interest is growing and people are now even asking for full containers of Flavor Fall in Africa."
"Our other focus has been on European retailers and now, from our total shipments to EU, 2/3rds goes to the supermarkets, which is very encouraging," says Jako. "We have seen a very good momentum build in the last three years and want to keep that going, we know that we can supply a lot more in the coming years."
For more information:
Jako van Lill
Fruits Unlimited
Tel: +27 21 860 1800
Email: jako@fruits.co.za
www.fruits.co.za/