The latest figures released by the South African stonefruit industry have indicated a drop in volumes of plums and apricots this season, down 7 per cent to 8.25m cartons and 6 per cent to 971,000 cartons respectively.
Industry sources said that plum volumes have been hit by adverse weather conditions, a warm winter negatively impacting fruit-set, with the Fortune variety particularly hit.
Summer temperatures that fluctuated between 25oC and 43oC in some of the main plum production regions may have a long-lasting effect on final export volumes, with packers in Franschhoek noting that crops may fall by 30 per cent on last year.
However, shortfalls in plums and apricots will be made up by other stonefruit categories, the industry anticipates, with nectarines expected to deliver a crop of 2.3m cartons (up 18 per cent) and peaches forecast to break through the 1m-carton mark, a year-on-year increase of 7 per cent.
Total Southern Hemisphere stonefruit production is expected to fall across most categories this year, with apricots set to fall 14 per cent, peaches and plums 12 per cent and nectarines 6 per cent.
