Starting in January and running until March, in certain markets South Africa is the sole supplier of apricots worldwide.
"Many farmers are interested due to the significant shortage in apricots in the market, especially after Christmas and demand from everywhere in the world is amazing," says Michael Oosthuizen, International Plant Selection's representative in South Africa.
Consumer behaviour indicates a developing preference for full red apricots
Over the past number of years, stonefruit farmers in the Western Cape have found the Carmingo and Rubyngo cultivar ranges worth their salt, but an early full red apricot has remained elusive until the low chill Rubyngo variety called Rubikoo (M20.390) from International Plant Selection.
Oosthuizen notes that fewer winter chilling hours than normal were clocked during the past winter in the Western Cape, particularly in May and June. Despite this, he says, Rubikoo still produced an excellent crop in Northern Paarl, a low chill area, as visitors to Nimes Farm saw for themselves last week.
"A very successful Rubyngo field day showcased the performance of this low chill variety," Oosthuizen says. "This site only received 320 Richardson chilling hours this past winter. This opens up the opportunity for all the apricot areas in South Africa to plant full red Rubyngo apricots from the IPS programme."
Right: At the recent Rubikoo field day: from left Pierre Rossouw (Stems Fruit) with Charl Stander (Freshness First) and Stefan du Plessis (Icon Fruit)
Oosthuizen remarks that according to his estimate, a Rubikoo tree in Paarl, planted in 2021, bears a minimum of 350 fruit per tree. "This equates to over 15 tonnes per hectare in the fourth year."
Red apricots will own 70% market share in future
Growers of the cultivar have called it an easy tree, he says, and field day attendants were impressed by what they saw, among whom Woolworths buyers. "They told us their experience recently at stores, where they had some volume to test the market, was that red apricots sold much faster."
A harvesting window on full red apricots of at least seven to eight weeks is possible with the IPS cultivars, and when planted across different areas, each cultivar can be picked for three to four weeks.
"All over the world people buy with the eye and red apricots have great appeal. European consumers are familiar with red apricots or fruit with a red blush (defined by 60% red on an orange or yellow background). We don't foresee red apricots replacing yellow apricots, we does appear that red apricots could in future own 70% of the apricot market as these full red varieties become more available."
For more information:
Michael Oosthuizen
International Plant Selection
Tel: +27 83 228 9348
Email: [email protected]