The South African top fruit season is upon us again. Top fruit exporter Fruitways have the early pear variety Bon Chretien in the markets, while the first Royal Gala apples are packed and on the water.Last year’s volumes were slightly down but Chris Moodie, Group Marketing Director at Fruitways, says this season's volumes are back to normal. They are currently busy picking the last of the Royal Galas and will start with big volumes of Golden Delicious next week, then move to Breaburn, Fuji, Granny Smith and Pink Lady.
Chris says it is too early in the season to estimate total volumes but quality looks good, with good sugars and cosmetic appearance. The growers were very fortunate that the season is running a week late as it allowed the Galas to colour up in the slightly cooler weather, "We are also looking forward to the first harvests of two new variety strains this season namely Rosy Glow which falls under the well-known Pink Lady banner and Kiku, a new Fuji variant that we are very excited by."
Fruitways ships to the UK, Europe and Africa has in recent years moved in to the Middle and Far East markets. Chris says these markets compliment the traditional European markets as the demand there is for different sizes and varieties of apples and pears.
Fruitways has its headquarters at Somerset West in South Africa's Western Cape region, it is one of the three main operating entities of The Melsetter Group, the South African family owned agribusiness. Fruitways encompasses the production, packing and export of apples and pears.
www.fruitways.com