The UK remains one of South Africa’s most important markets for top fruit and is the destination for around 40 per cent of the country’s production for export.
“We have established good working relationships with our UK buyers over the years and this market has a generally good track record for our ongoing fruit programmes through the marketing period,” says Thomas Mouton, head of the top-fruit department at Colors Fruit. “This season’s tough economic situation means that we will have to be creative to move all our fruit and we trust that these relationships will stand us in good stead through the season,” he adds.
“The UK market is very important for South African apple growers, as they sell a wide count range from large loose fruit to very small apples in bags for kids,” says Stephen Brink, top-fruit product manager for Capespan. “Most of the UK retailers also focus on adding value at source to enable them to give a better deal to their consumers. The UK retail environment has also been very stable over the last couple of years from apricing perspective, but it is quite likely that 2009 season will be tougher.”
One of the key reasons why the UK market is important for South African apple and pear production lies in the sizing of the fruit that it produces, as much of the country’s top fruit falls into the 65-75mm diameter size range. Most other markets demand larger fruit, but the convenience of this size range for bagging is making fruit of these sizes increasingly popular in the UK market.
As the total apple harvest appears to be quite large again this season, it is likely that there will again be quite a high percentage of smaller-sized fruit, which is ideal for bagging - and bagged fruit is not only convenient, but more affordable for the consumer.
Pears
This year’s South African pear harvest is expected to yield 13.5 million cartons for export, showing an increase of approximately two per cent against last season’s bumper crop of 13.1m cartons.
Increased exports of pears during the start of the season have been largely due to good market demand, as this season’s northern hemisphere pear stocks have been approximately 20 per cent smaller than last season. “The market has been stronger, mainly due to lower EU crop and stock levels for Conference, which has created an opportunity for early pears from South Africa,” explains Brink. “A smaller percentage of pears from South Africa are sold in the UK market, compared to apples.”
Bon Chretien is the first pear variety harvested and this year the crop has been good, in terms of both quality and fruit size. This means that producers have been able to export a larger percentage of their crop than was initially expected. “The Bon Chretien and the early Packhams’ Triumph have been well received in markets thus far,” confirms Stefan Conradie, product manager for South African top fruit and stonefruit at the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum.
South Africa’s largest pear variety is Forelle. “This year, our Forelle harvest is looking exceptional with regards to both colour and size, and it looks likely that we will achieve a higher percentage of packouts of export grade,” says Calla du Toit, chairman of the South African Forelle Producers’ Association. “Although some areas did sustain damage during flowering as a result of high rainfalls during September, in general this year’s harvest is looking better than last year,” she says.
The Agriculture Research Council (ARC) of South Africa has developed a very promising new blush pear called Cheeky. This pear ripens at the end of January and demonstrates better colour development than the other blush pears produced during this period, namely Rosemarie and Flamingo. Cheeky is able to retain its blush development during summer heatwaves. The pear is a trademark variety and is available only under licence from Culdevco, the cultivar development company set up by the five grower-owned producers’ associations in South Africa to commercialise and manage the intellectual property of cultivars bred by the ARC.
“We have received extremely good feedback from the UK and specific European markets for this variety, and there is a great deal of interest in Cheeky from our producers,” says Dr Leon von Mollendorff, general manager of Culdevco.
Cheeky’s main advantage is that the season starts in the second half of January, around three weeks earlier than Forelle, South Africa’s leading blush pear. “We are currently propagating plant material for interested growers and will be releasing plant material to South African pear growers in May. Based on our current orders, there should be around 80-90 hectares of Cheeky planted by 2010,” explains Von Mollendorf. He adds that the fruit has an exceptional flavour with a smooth, buttery texture and a good storage capacity of up to 12 weeks in regular atmosphere storage.
Apples
This year’s harvest estimate for apple exports is around 25m cartons, roughly 1m cartons fewer than last year’s record total of 26m. The first apple to be harvested is Gala and so far the harvest has been good.
“The weather prior to harvest was conducive to good colour development and this year has been better than last year, meaning that a higher percentage of the crop can be classed as Royal Gala,” explains Mouton.
During the past few days, the evenings have cooled considerably as South Africa’s Western Cape has started experiencing the first signs of autumn - good news indeed for the colour development on the later bi-coloured apples such as Pink Lady.
During the past winter, production regions received good winter rains and producers are not likely to experience water shortages this year. South African apples are usually known for their high sugars in comparison with fruit produced elsewhere and this year’s good weather is again ensuring that the harvest is as sweet as ever.
The Dutoit Group, one of the South African industry’s biggest top-fruit producers and exporters, holds the South African rights to HoneyCrunch, the promising new US variety developed at the University of Minnesota. After extensive testing, this year its initial 50ha of commercial orchards are bearing the first commercial harvest of this sweet, bi-coloured variety.
“We are well satisfied with the quality of the fruit and we look set to produce around 150 tonnes of HoneyCrunch,” says Pieter du Toit, joint managing director. “We recently received a visit from David Bedford, the breeder of this variety from the University of Minnesota, who confirmed that the quality of the South African fruit compares very favourably with the North American production of the variety.”
Like most bi-coloured apples, this variety requires a specific microclimate to grow successfully and the microclimate of the Dutoit Group’s production region in the high altitude Kouebokkeveld is particularly well suited to the production of bi-coloured apples.
“We also plan to contract out the production of this variety to other South African top-fruit growers,” says Du Toit. The Dutoit Group will market the large fruit in European supermarkets through Pomanjou, the French company that has the European marketing and distribution rights. As the Dutoit Group holds the South African distribution rights, it plans to market smaller fruit exclusively through Woolworths, one of South Africa’s premium supermarkets.
Markets
After last year’s harvest, the South African top-fruit industry was indeed bullish after two years of good returns. Nurseries reported that their orders for young trees were mostly full for the next few years. Although the nursery orders remain largely unchanged, since then rising production costs and a slight strengthening of the South African rand against sterling have made the situation somewhat less rosy.
“As the UK is in an economic recession, one should expect a tough market on apples as retailers aim to give consumers a better or cheaper deal on every product,” says Brink. “The current EU apple stocks are higher than the same time last year, as consumption to date has been slower. At present, there is tremendous pressure on early Royal Gala and Golden Delicious prices from South Africa as a result of the higher stock levels,” he explains.
“A great deal is hanging in the balance regarding the outcome of this marketing season,” says Conradie. “A positive change from a few years ago is that the establishment and function of the Joint Marketing Forums now provide industry stakeholders with the ability to make pro-active decisions based on industry shipping and market information. The information we have access to places us in a better position to identify and manage potential marketing disasters.”
This increased level of co-operation extends beyond South Africa to other southern hemisphere top-fruit producing countries, and that has been of benefit to the global fruit industry in planning market strategies and development.
The deciduous industry is currently working with information service providers and the Perishable Products Export Control Board to establish the electronic data interchange. This would allow for the electronic generation and submission of all export documentation, such as export and phytosanitary certificates. “This will provide us with a very powerful tool and get rid of the time-consuming paper trail,” explains Conradie.
Another interesting development for the South African top-fruit industry has been the growth in recent years of the South African and African markets. South African supermarket group Shoprite has grown considerably throughout Africa and is currently Africa’s largest food retailer, with outlets in 17 countries across Africa, the Indian Ocean islands and southern Asia.
Freshmark is the fresh produce division of Shoprite and has reported massive year-on-year increases in its apple and pear sales. As the effects of the current global economic downturn have thus far been limited in the African markets, it is likely that producers and shippers who have traditionally focused on exports to the UK and Europe will increasingly look to these markets during this season.
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