The growing season for South African citrus however has been relatively straight forward, the flooding earlier in the year in some northern provinces did not disrupt the crop and likewise there was no significant damage from hail storms.
Since 2012 estimate figures include volumes from Swaziland, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, as well as South Africa.
The estimates released in mid March show an increase of 15% on South African grapefruit volumes to almost 12.3 million cartons, following low volumes in the previous year. Sizing should be bigger that 2012 and colour and quality are said to be good.
Although Zimbabwean grapefruit exports are estimated to be static, volumes from Mozambique are estimated to increase by 23% and Swaziland by 14%.
The Eastern Cape, the largest lemon growing region will have an increase in earlier lemons of 10% compared to a low first pick in 2012, and 8% increase in the mid season and 6% increase in late lemons. The area also expects larger sizing. The total volume expected for Southern Africa is just over 11 million cartons.
Valencia and navel volumes are estimated almost the same as 2012, with just a 1% increase, while soft citrus will increase by 7%. Overall the estimate shows a 4% increase over 2012.
South African Valencia’s show a small 0.4% increase over 2012, Zimbabwe increases by 12%. Swaziland estimates a decrease of 8%, while Mozambique anticipates the same volumes as last year.
Navel growers also expect larger sized fruit, with a shift from earlier fruit to later fruit. There have been isolated incidences of hail in the Western Cape and Nelspruit; while Vaalharts region shows recovery from last year’s hail. For soft citrus late mandarins show the most growth (10%) as young orchards start to mature, Satsuma’s increase by 8% while Clementine’s are estimated to increase by 3%.For Valencia’s the northern areas show slight decreases in the estimate, while the southern regions estimate growth.