South African citrus volumes drop more
by Market Insider
Friday, 19 Aug. 2016
The South African citrus export crop has dropped further than initial estimates as growers started their Valencia crop.
South Africa's citrus growers’ association (CGA) initial crop forecast pegged citrus volumes at 10m cartons down on last year's total and it is predicting a further drop of nearly 5m cartons which would represent a reduction of 13% in comparison to last year when a total of 118,4m cartons were exported.
Valencias form the biggest part of the South African citrus category and one of the biggest export items; with grapefruit already significantly down on last year, navels dropping below last year’s level, marginal increases in soft citrus but lemons dropping below pre-season forecasts, growers had hoped that the Valencia crop (although down on last year because of the drought) will still come through for them.
When harvest started, nevertheless, it has been apparent that despite an excellent packout, the crop load was going to be small; most growers ascribed this to the heat and dry conditions over the last summer.
CGA says that, as a result, the Valencia Focus Group has dropped its predicted volumes by 4,8m cartons while the Soft Citrus Focus Group and the Navel Focus Group have made slight upward changes to their predictions. It’s a strange season indeed.
The result is that exporters who are already struggling to secure volumes in order to service their customers will have further problems; growers, on the other hand, will be in the pound seats with demand exceeding supply and therefore a further escalation in prices.
Source: Fruitnet