The latest crop estimate released by South African grower organisation Hortgro Services is pointing to the country harvesting a record pear export crop this season, with the projection of just over 14.574m cartons around one per cent up on last year.
With the apple crop now estimated at 26.5m export cartons, the country's total topfruit export volumes will reach 41.126m cartons.
Packham's Triumph, which is the largest single pear cultivar, will contribute 6.1m cartons to the crop, or 2 per cent more than last year. Williams Bon Chretion will contribute 2.375m cartons, a reduction of 4 per cent, and Forelle will contribute 2.3m cartons, 3 per cent higher than last year.
The apple export crop will see a significant rise in volumes of Fuji, which comes in 14 per cent higher than last year. Golden Delicious will be down 2 per cent and Granny Smith volumes will come in at the same level as last year. While the overall crop of Pink Lady/Cripps Pink will only be one per cent up on last year, growers in the Elgin Vyeboom region are expecting a big crop.
In Europe, South African exporters will face a formidable task with European stock levels of apples and pears at the beginning of February standing at record levels.
Meanwhile, fears that the export season would be hampered by negative exchange rates are proving correct, with the South African currency having strengthened further over the past few days. Growers point out that the South African Rand has strengthened by three percentage points compared with the same time last year, and fear that this will hit them hard in terms of net farm income.
