The South African Citrus Marketing Forum has released its first export crop forecast of the 2012 season, announcing that volume are expected to be 4 per cent higher than last year and similar to the crop of 2010.
The forecast includes export volumes from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland, although the contribution of these countries to the total volume will be relatively small.
Soft citrus export volumes will be 10 per cent higher than last season and are expected to reach 7.6m cartons. Grapefruit shipments are forecast to decrease by 6 per cent to 13.4m cartons, while exports of lemons should increase by around 3 per cent.
Both navels and valencias, which together account for two-thirds of the total South African citrus export crop, will be up on last year. navels will increase by 8 per cent and valencias by 4 per cent to 22m cartons and 46m cartons respectively.
The season has already kicked of with the soft citrus category, satsuma, which is showing a 14 per cent increase on last year’s disappointing crop, mainly due to better climatic conditions and the availability of more water in the main production region of the Eastern Cape.
Lemon exports are also well underway and exports will be higher this year mainly due to central northern regions having recovered from last year’s hail damage.
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