The South African kiwifruit industry is still developing, but results are heading in the right direction, in terms of export quality, and volumes are expected to continue to grow as the production of new growers matures.
South Africa expects to export 1200 tonnes this season, mainly into Europe, Middle East and Canada where they can supply the gap between the end of the European supply and the start of the New Zealand arrivals.
Craig Heslop from Sunveld Kiwifruit expects to export 400 tonnes this season. “We start with ‘FirstGold (Z487)’ the earliest variety, then move on to ‘CapeGold (H14)’ and lastly ‘SweetGold (Y368)’ a mid season variety. The first air-freight fruit arrived in Europe in week eight and the first sea-freight volumes in week 12-14. There was a delay in port this year causing a two week delay to sea arrivals, but the fruit still arrived within the window. New Zealand are also running a bit late and we don’t expect their arrivals before the first week of May.”
The weather in South Africa has posed challenges for growers with unseasonal rain in the Cape over late Summer and Mpumalanga was hit by cyclone Freddy which resulted in exceptional rain.
"We are hoping for good arrivals but if there are any quality issues they won’t be apparent until the fruit arrives in Europe. In terms of returns, we have not received any pricing yet but we are anticipating a slight softening in pricing with the war in Ukraine and general economic factors impacting demand, which will be offset but a reduction in freight costs and a weaker Rand, should result in similar back-on-farm returns to prior years.
“The kiwifruit industry is still small but we are very excited to see volumes increasing each year as new growers come into production.”
For more information:
Craig Heslop
Tel: +27 823274047
craig@skelton.co.za