© Malelane CitrusLemons have sold well, especially in Europe, says Christo Naudé of Malelane Citrus in the Onderberg district of Mpumalanga Province. They exported more lemons than usual this season.
"For the first time in the seven years that we've been involved in lemons, we managed to get shelf space in Europe. That helped a lot, along with the fixed programmes we supply in the United Kingdom. We also sent some lemons to Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong as well, where the market was good, though not to the same degree as in Europe."
They didn't send much to the Middle East. Large fruit would go to Russia, but there weren't many of those as the crop peaked on counts 138/113/162, Naudé says.
They have now finished packing the lemon crop. "Then the pawpaw hit the fan, and now we're sitting with one of the most difficult citrus commodities to sell, and that's grapefruit."
Ahead of the price increase, they unsuccessfully attempted to buy the whole season's diesel for the packhouse; for the moment, availability appears stable. "We are getting diesel, we are getting trucks. We haven't yet seen the expected increase. I haven't made the sums yet," he says, "but we expect a 20% increase, an additional R3 to R5 [€0.3] per carton [15kg] – and that on grapefruit where every Rand and every cent counts."
© Malelane Citrus
First grapefruit to India
Deciding where they're going with the grapefruit crop is still a work in progress. Years ago, most went to Japan. Today, Europe is the main receiver of their grapefruit, followed by fixed programmes in the UK.
"We send a bit to Russia, a bit to Canada, we're trying South Korea, and we'll be sending our first grapefruit to India this year."
There are some buyers in the Middle East, usually looking for smaller fruit, of which he doesn't expect an abundance this season, and these buyers only take a container or two of grapefruit per week.
"With the local juice price being so low, we'll probably pack into a PP programme this year. This is one of those years that you're forced to put your volumes through a packhouse, to export, and to hope for the best. It's going to be a challenging season, but then again, that's what we're used to."
Fortunately, the last of the season, Valencias, is something to look forward to. "I'm never much worried about Valencias. Once in ten years you might get a difficult season or two, but it bounces back. We'll see what the Middle East situation looks like when we start picking Valencias in mid-July."
By November, the mango season starts, where they are, as with the lemons, amongst the earliest in the country.
© Malelane Citrus
The Hippo C brand has been very popular among buyers in Asia since its launch two years ago. The size of these animals, a common feature of fruit orchards in Malelane, represents the significant proportion of daily vitamin C requirement provided by citrus
For more information:
Christo Naudé
Malelane Sitrus Koöperasie
Tel: +27 13 790 0391
Email: [email protected]
https://msk.co.za/
