"Pears are going okay, pretty much everything is harvested and the last of the Forrelle are being picked just now," explains Wayne Mudge from Cape Five.
"The Middle East market in general is down with a lack of demand for almost everything from stone fruit to top fruit and to citrus, people have been reluctant to place orders."
Cape Five are quite small suppliers to the Middle East, however they recently opened an office in Shanghai.
"At the moment we are shipping grapes from India and oranges from Egypt to China and they are doing well. China is quite a balanced market at the moment, it is a different dynamic there. Oranges from the US are fetching a high price while the Egyptian oranges are getting quite a bit less," according to Wayne.
For the Chinese market it is all about the brand and most of the US fruit is sold under the Sunkist brand. The price is not so much a reflection on quality but the Chinese desire for a well know brand.
South Africa will soon start to send grapefruit to China, growers in the north are just waiting for the fruit to reach optimum quality and will start in the next few weeks.
It will be June before South African oranges make it in big quantities to China, giving the Egyptian fruit a bit of space.
According to Wayne the South African grapefruit and oranges are looking very good this season. Last year the South African citrus season ended early which was not good for exporters, but this year with a better crop it won't end so early.
South Africa is going through another wave of political turmoil at the moment which has caused the Rand to drop, this is temporarily a good thing for exporters, but in general, the political and financial situation is very bad for the country as a whole.
The drought in the Western Cape should not affect the top fruit production this season but the situation will be critical next year if doesn't rain in the coming months.
"It will be a problem for everyone in the Cape, we are currently in a dry cycle which is the longest since 1945. If there is no rain in the next three months we really will be in trouble, not just for agriculture but also the city of Cape Town, as people already have severe water restrictions," Concludes Wayne.
For more information:
Wayne Mudge
Cape Five
Tel:+27 21 850 4640
Email: waynemudge@ctn.capefive.com
www.capefive.com