The South African citrus season is almost over. "We received the last arrivals in week 41 and the largest part were juicy varieties," said Eric Dierick of Beltran. "Looking back at the season it was really not bad as far as quality and sales were concerned. With our import volumes of our house brands Cibel (divided by Central Fruit) and Cebon (divided by Beltran) we noticed an increase of about 15% compared to last year."
According to the importer demand and prices remain good. "We hope, just as in other years, to close the season in a proper way. Normally this should not be a problem for the juice varieties, because it will still be a while before Spain will enter the market with good oranges for squeezing." This year for the first time Beltran sent South African citrus of the Cibel brand to Spain. "It is still a trial phase and conclusions are difficult to reach at the moment. However, the result was not bad at all."
Stone fruit and grapes
Eric mentions that at the moment they are looking forward to the South African stone fruit season. "The supply will start in the first week of December. We hear positive noises from our supplier about the prospects in the area of volumes, quality and sizes."
Shortly after the top fruit the first South African grapes will arrive. "These are expected in the second or third week of December. For us the first varieties (Prime Seedless and Black Gem) come from Groblersdal and Marbelhall. We still have to wait and see how this will work out, because these are the regions, where it rained in the past few weeks before the harvest, which does not improve the quality."
For more information:
Eric Dierick
Group Achiel De Witte
Beltran NV
112-154, Werkhuizenkaai
Magazijn 14/15/16
1000 Brussels - Belgium
Tel : + 32 (0)2 216 45 39
Cell:+ 32 (0)476 96 97 45
Fax :+ 32 (0)2 245 70 43
Eric Dierick
Group Achiel De Witte
Beltran NV
112-154, Werkhuizenkaai
Magazijn 14/15/16
1000 Brussels - Belgium
Tel : + 32 (0)2 216 45 39
Cell:+ 32 (0)476 96 97 45
Fax :+ 32 (0)2 245 70 43