The South African citrus industry is upbeat about South Korea granting access for its grapefruit and lemons following a recent visit from a high-powered delegation from the Asian nation.
The visit was arranged at short notice after years of submissions by the South African industry and sources from that country hope access might be granted before the start of next season.
“This is a major breakthrough for our grapefruit and lemon sector,” says Justin Chadwick of the South African Citrus Growers Association. “After so many years of talking to the Koreans we were pleasantly surprised with the speed at which this visit was arranged and the positive atmosphere in which it took place. We hope that we will be able to ship our first grapefruit and lemons into this market during next season.”
South African oranges already have access to the Korean market and it is believed access for grapefruit and lemons will improve marketing options for citrus growers and exporters.
Korea has been a growing market for grapefruit imports in recent years. According the a USDA GAIN report the total value of grapefruit imports during the 2008/09 season was US$5,423,000, whereas the following year that figure had increased to US$8,053,000. This value was generated almost exclusively by imports from the US and Israel, which produce fruit counterseasonally to South Africa.
The South African citrus industry is also awaiting further developments on access to the Thai market after supplying the country with the final information for a draft protocol.
The total South African citrus crop this season is now estimated to be 93m cartons, some 8m cartons down on last year. Grapefruit harvesting has now come to an end and the country has entered the valencia season, which accounts for almost 50 per cent of South Africa’s citrus exports.
“The disasters in Japan did have an effect on the early demand for South African grapefruit,” said Maarten Venter of Komati. “Although the Florida stock was at a reasonably low level it took longer to clear and other factors also affected demand in the early period. However, we are slowly seeing demand returning to normal and South Africa has now taken over the shelf space.”
Mr Venter added that in Asia the citrus season is running smoothly and it is expected that demand will improve further during the Valencia season. “The specification required by our customers in the Far East is extremely high but our valencias have always been very popular.”
The valencia crop is estimated at 42m cartons, 3m less than last year’s record crop. Reports are that quality is good and sizing is up on last year with growers confident that their product will receive good demand throughout the season.
The second harvest of the South African lemon crop is underway and leading packers and exporters, Sunday’s River Citrus Company (SRCC), said supply to all markets is stable. The total crop is some 2m cartons bigger than last year and climatic problems in other supply countries may boost the South African season.
SRCC’s Hannes de Waal said the company packs about half the South African crop, with a wide distribution into traditional and new markets. “We are constantly working on expanding our offer in the Far East and access to Korea will certainly boost our opportunities in the region.”
Mr De Waal added that the traditional Eureka lemon cultivar will continue to dominate the South African offer after the high hopes pinned on the Eureka seedless variety failed to materialise. “We are very disappointed in the seedless variety and I doubt whether it will recover to become a leading variety.”
Sinogold’s Carl van der Westhuizen said the South African size specification for Valencia’s is bigger than last year. “We need to plan carefully how we place this fruit, particularly because late American fruit is increasingly affecting our early season in the Far East.”
He said the early navel varieties being produced in South Africa’s northern regions are not really suitable for the Eastern markets. “Palmer and Washington continue to arrive soft and are therefore not preferred. Rustenberg Late, a mid-season variety, is about the only navel grown in the northern areas which continues to do well in the Far East region.”
While the season in the Far East is more or less on track, lack of demand in important markets such as Russia and Northern Europe is of greater concern for South African producers. Leading growers said they were slowing down shipments to Russia to bring supply and demand into balance. This will not result in dramatically increased supplies to the Eastern markets, however, because of different specification requirements.
