The South African stonefruit industry is “cautiously optimistic” about its prospects this season, according to Stefan Conradie, product manager for pome and stonefruit at South Africa’s Deciduous Fruit Producers’ Trust (DFPT).
He told freshinfo: “Trading conditions are expected to be tougher this coming season due to the worldwide financial crisis. However, growing health trends and creating more awareness of the benefits and value of fresh fruit is expected to support consumer demand for our products in these tougher trading conditions.
“In the 2007-08 season, South Africa recorded an all-time high of 12.6 million total export units of stonefruit, including apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums. Plums were by far the biggest contributor, exporting 8.9m cartons in 5.25kg equivalents.”
DFPT’s first estimates for the 2008-09 season show that the industry is expecting to be about three per cent down in total stonefruit shipments, with plums being about five per cent down compared to the 2007-08 season, with an expected volume of 8.4m units.
“Growing conditions have generally been good and we expect a good-quality crop. We did, however, experience lower fruit set in some areas as a result of more rain during the flowering period in September. This should lead to an increase in larger-sized fruit,” added Conradie.
