"The season ended in week 4 with our last containers, although there is still a little bit left for airfreight to arrive with the Chinese New Year," explains Bram Snijder, Production Manager at Afrupro.
"The heat has affected the crop to some degree, and the producers have lost about 15% of the crop due to it. Also the fruit ripened much faster this year than in previous years. We have had very limited rain in the last 10 days, but would welcome some good downpours so that the trees can recover and start flushing in preparation for next years crop."The heat also affected a new variety in the Tzaneen area, Wai Chee, which Afrupro had hoped would be in commercial volumes this season. "Unfortunately due to the heat during flowering and fruit set the volumes didn’t really increase from last year and the fruit size was also negatively affected by the heat," explained Snijder.
Despite the heat the season has seen a record crop for Afrupro and in total for the South African season the crop was up by about 15-25%.
The company's largest market is still Europe, but they have started to make some inroads into the Middle East this year. "We also hope that we will be able to export to the USA next year which should help in alleviating the pressure on Europe during the main Malagasy season." Afrupro is also working on alternative ways of packing litchis in order to avoid the sulphuring process. “we hope that in the next few years the market will respond positively to these innovations.”
Snijder explains that market change has been slow, but the industry is working hard to gain access to China and to develop relations in the USA so that larger volumes could be shipped there next year.
For more information:
Bram SnijderAfrupro
Tel: +27 15 307 7096
Email: bram@afrupro.co.za
www.afrupro.co.za