South Africa: High temperatures have given high quality citrus

The hot summer was very good for Citrusdal's citrus according to Piet Smit, Marketing Director of Favourite Fresh Export, South Africa. "We had a hot summer which was normal, but it was one of the hottest in a very long time. This is good for citrus and we also had enough water through-out the summer moths for the citrus trees. I don't think anyone was affected by water shortages in Citrusdal, with good water management and utilisation we got by through the hot summer season."

He goes on to say that the high temperatures lead to very good internal and eating quality with high brix levels. "Last year we had very good quality and I expect this year to be even better. The acid-brix ratio is high which also makes for very good shelflife."

Volumes this season should be more or less the same, although the harvest is 10-14 days earlier. Night temperatures are good at 10-16°C, which makes for good colour development and according to Piet it is a very clean crop, and they will have more export quality fruit.

"Sizes are marginally smaller which is good for some of our customers who take oranges for juicing and for packing in bags," he explains.

Piet is looking forward to a very good season as the European and UK markets are empty and the Middle East is clearing up nicely. They are currently waiting for the Californian crop to finish before sending Navels to the states. Over all the markets are better in real terms.

"The small volumes of Navels which would normally go to the States early in the season will go to other markets such as UK, EU, Middle and Far East. The clementines will still go to the States as planned as they want this this fruit earlier because the locally produced late mandarins are already done, so they are waiting for the fresh new fruit from us."

As for water supply for next season, Piet explained that last winter they only got about half of the normal rain fall, "We are now going into our wintertime and we need our normal rain fall now or we will be in trouble as the dam levels in the Western Cape are low, but I am confident that we will get the rains we need between May and August," concludes Piet.

For more information:
Piet Smit
Favourite Fresh Export
Tel: +27 22 921 2636
Email: piet@cedarpack.com