“They are having a long winter in South Africa,” explained Geoff White of importer Malet Azoulay. “A lot of fruit has failed to get past the pollination stage, or if it has matured, it is not colouring up.”
The UK is enjoying a flush of fruit from Israel, which is set to continue for the next two to four weeks. But once Israeli supplies are through when sourcing would traditionally switch to South Africa, availability will tighten. Zimbabwe is experiencing a similar, long cool winter to South Africa and White also reports below average temperatures in Colombia, another major source for the product.
“We are therefore likely to see limited supplies for three months from October to December until South Africa starts again with its main summer season in January,” warned White.
The difficult supply situation comes against a backdrop of shortage in the market for processing too. Ecuador - the market leader in export of passionfruit juice concentrate - is experiencing problems with crop diseases, which have dramatically affected plantations and production output.
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