South Africa Fresh Deciduous Annual 2009 - USDA FAS

South Africa Fresh Deciduous Annual 2009 - USDA FAS

South Africa’s total deciduous production is forecast at 1,551,900 MT for marketing year 2009/10. For marketing year 2008/09, South Africa’s total deciduous fruit production is estimated at
1,424,818 MT. This represents a 4.3 percent increase compared to 2008 total production of 1,365,135 MT. The average prices for 2009 on fresh produce markets show that the prices of apples have slightly declined from R4,257 per ton to R4,197 per ton. Prices for pears and grapes have both increased; pears have increased from R3, 727 per ton to R3,988 per ton in 2009 while the price of grapes increased from R5,719 per ton in 2008 to R6,713 per ton in 2009.

It is estimated that there are about 2,254 producers of fruit for fresh consumption in South Africa, comprising of 1,174 producers for stone fruit, 954 producers for dry and table grapes and 700 producers for pome fruit. South Africa producers grow fruit both for processing (canning/ drying) and for fresh consumption. South African producers produce organic grapes for the U.S. market but the volumes for these grapes are always very small because of the production costs and distance to the market. Production of these grapes isn't more difficult in South Africa compared to other countries, but added difficulties arise from the lengthy transport time to the market. For instance, conventional grape packers can use sulpher pads and other permitted pre-harvest chemicals for preservation, but this isn't allowed for organic grapes. Generally, the production costs of organic grapes are about 30 percent more than the conventional equivalent.

Carbon Footprint The effects of the climate changes are predicted to have a deep impact on the fresh fruit export industry since the industry is a contributor towards greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global warming and climate change. The fruit industry is taking steps to conform to consumers’ requests by complying with carbon footprint audits and is also involved in the project of carbon calculator.

Fruit industry electronic data flow Traditionally, shipping and inspection data was manually recorded and channeled from pack house and exporters to the Perishable Product Export Control Board (PPECB). This method was tedious, time consuming, and took at least 14 days for the information to be available. This impacted on turn-around time for marketing decisions. Since 2007, the South African fruit industry embarked on an initiative to implement an electronic data flow system. The initiative is aimed at making information available to producers and exporters within a week after shipment.

Marketing The South African deciduous fruit industry is highly developed and geared for the export of a large percentage of its production. Apples rank first, followed by table grapes, pears, peaches, plums, and apricots in the South African fresh fruit exports. The current world recession had a significant effect on types of packaging used in packaging the deciduous fruit. In the past the UK market demanded grapes packed in 9kg cartons and served as a more favorable destination for South African exporters. However, higher demand and prices in the Northern European open market forced exporters to focus on 4.5 kg packaging for these markets. The exporters of grapes to the UK and Europe reported an increased demand as average households are opting for healthier and affordable diet.