The South African sharonfruit campaign has started with the delivery of the first fruit of the 2014 season to the Arisa Pack House at Buffeljagsrivier, in the country’s Southern Cape region.
Early indications are that Arisa will pack some 7,000 tones of fruit this season, which will be close to 1,000 tonnes more than last year.
“We are looking at a good clean crop of excellent quality,” says Pine Pienaar, project manager for sharonfruit in South Africa. “The early fruit looks very good and we will be packing full steam by next week. The harvest will last until the end May and the last fruit will be shipped from South Africa at the end of June.”
Arisa and its suppliers represented around 80 per cent of the production of the variety branded as Sharon Fruit and the fruit is marketed internationally by the well-known Israeli company, Mor International, which owns the international marketing rights for sharonfruit. The South African season compliments the Northern Hemisphere production and allows international marketing to be extended from April to July.
Arisa’s Marketing executive Hein Small says the export volume is expected to reach some 4,800 tonnes. “We are planning to ship about 300 containers this season and after the past two seasons, our growers are confident of a good season.'
Pienaar says the growing season has been ideal, with plenty of sunshine and some good rains just when it was needed. “This is the main reason why we are looking at increased volumes this year.”
The South African sharonfruit business had a few tough years recently and was deregulated two years ago. “Since then a group of committed growers have consolidated around Arisa and we can see their commitment in the quality of fruit they produce.”
Europe, and Germany in particular, will again be the leading market, with good volumes also entering the UK. Small says there has recently been good progress in the Middle East, Far East and Canada, while expansion into the US market is imminent. “This will be a major breakthrough for us,' he adds.
