South Africa's pomegranate harvest season is set to start about 10 to 14 days later than last year, depending on the region, due to the colder weather that lasted late into spring. The two main growing areas are in the North and the Western Cape will start their respective season's months apart. "Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape are expected to start harvesting from the late December, due to the different climate compared to the Western Cape. The Western Cape will only start around the end of February," notes Kai-Uwe Molzahn, chairman of the Pomegranate Association of South Africa (Pomasa).
He says they had an improved 2024 season ending with more tons exported compared to 2023. "We had an improved season compared to 2023 based on unit revenue and production with 8, 616 tons whole fruit exported. Our exports had a 0,75% improvement year-on-year (2023), despite a reduction in the Western Cape, resulting from improved production in the northern areas of Limpopo."
However, it was not all plain sailing last season as pomegranate exports also faced the port interruptions and other challenges. "At the ports the interruption in shipping leading to fruit piling up at cold storage facilities and some quality and price issues were still ongoing. The cost of packing material remains a challenge," notes Molzahn.
South Africa's pomegranate industry has seen a 25% growth rate in hectares planted over the past five years to reach 1,167 h for the total areas planted. While the Western Cape remains the largest region, there was good expansion in the northern parts of South Africa, in the Limpopo/Mpumalanga area.
The cultivar distribution is led with the majority Wonderful variety with 88% of plantings and 7,646 tons exported, Hershkowitz 3% of plantings and 327 tons exported, Acco 3% of plantings and 329 tons exported, Emek and Kingdom has 2% of the plantings. There's a small amount of several other planted cultivars that make up a combined over 310 tons exported.
The largest markets for South African pomegranate exports are the Middle East, UK, EU and Russia. The industry is exploring the options to export to the U.S. market too. "We currently don't have exports to the U.S., but we are busy with market development and to understand the US requirements, new markets are difficult to open up and the process is extremely time-consuming," highlights Molzahn.
The industry have their sights set on growing the quality and quantity of exports for the 2024/25 season with the aim to reach over 10, 000 tons exported by 2029. The highest export figures of 9,831 were reached in 2022. "If the Western Cape can reach the previous volumes and the Northern areas keep on growing – by an estimated 20% production increase in the next two years – then we could improve by 15% to 18% on 2024's volumes. The outlook is positive and there are definitely opportunities for growth. Prices should be the same as last season provided that the offer does not exceed the demand," concludes Molzahn.
For more information:
The Pomegranate Association of South Africa
T: +27(0)21 870 2900
F: +27 (0)21 870 2915
E: [email protected]
www.sapomegranate.co.za