“Europe is literally waiting for every lemon”

Lemons are the only silver lining to a season in which other citrus from South Africa have had a hard time of it in a full European summer market, says Snyman Kritzinger, managing director of Grown4U in Kirkwood, Sundays River Valley. 

“Europe is literally waiting for every single lemon, and the lemon season has been a bit of a surprise. Prices aren’t at 2015/2016 levels but demand certainly is and prices have been on the up for the last while, yielding a good return, around 20 euros for nice sizes.”

The pull from Europe is raising prices in the Middle East too. Complicating factors to the Argentine lemon season, like excessive rain and strikes, as well as a focus on the US market, coupled with a drop in Spanish Verna lemon supplies, have contributed to the market’s receptiveness.

Fruit size is expected to be smaller towards the end of the season, with a 138 peak.

Furthermore, Snyman states that lemon volumes are fewer than originally expected, for no particular reason other than that making crop estimates is not an exact science. “I think we’re going to see a very short tail end to the season. I took a walk in the orchards yesterday and it looks like after this harvest, there are very few lemons left on the trees.”

Usually they pack lemons for Europe until week 33, those fruit arriving just as the Turkish lemon season starts. He expects a smoother overlap between the last South African lemons and the first Turkish Interdonato lemons than over the past two years.

The navel estimate for the Sundays River area, originally at 6 million 15kg cartons, have just been reduced with a million cartons, the result of a combination of factors: the recent two week-strike led to navels hanging longer than it should have, an increased incidence of navel creasing and lower packouts.

“Our company is basically finished with navels, just a few Lane Lates still to pack, and we’re at least 10% down.”

By the end of week 27, the entire industry had shipped 13.9 million 15kg cartons of navels, slightly above last year’s YTD figures.

For more information:

Snyman Kritzinger

Tel: +27 42 230 0760

Email: snyman@grown4u.co.za