Plum markets haven't quite been where they were last year but then again, notes Lohan Marais from Icon Fruit, a specialist stonefruit exporter, the 2023/2024 season was exceptionally good. "Prices this year won't reach the same heights as last year, and that is because of a combination of factors: the sizing is a bit smaller, volumes a bit higher. But still, it hasn't been a bad season."
It just goes to show, he remarks, the importance of size: "When you have a lot of double As [calibers], you can go anywhere in the world, but with Bs, that's not the case. You can't sell them in the special markets, for instance. The main markets for Bs are the Middle East, specifically Dubai, along with retailer and punnet lines in Germany and England."
He adds: "We had enough of all counts, it's just that there were plenty of Bs."
The Middle East market held up better than they're accustomed but for that, Marais says, they inadvertently have Cape Town harbor to thank. "It never was horrible and the market in the Middle East didn't crash as it's done in the past. Although you're not where you are in England," he explains, "It was an improvement on other years. It's probably been the effect of the delays at the Cape Town harbor. There's not a vessel every week, but often only one every two or three weeks going to the Middle East, so there never was a time when the Middle East was overstocked."
Plum orchard (copyright: Icon Fruit)
USA moves a lot of SA plums
Icon Fruit has been supplying the United States of America with plums since the trade commenced four years ago: all these years South African exporters had open access to the USA (albeit with a strict protocol) and never made use of it until a shortage in Chile four years ago turned American importers to South Africa.
This year Icon Fruit has again sent some fruit to the USA. It's not the market with the highest prices but, he says, they move good volumes.
In South East Asia they experienced increased competition from Australian stonefruit. Especially in Malaysia, the market definitely was tougher than in other years.
"Australia puts down good products at considerably lower prices than we can land fruit there," he says. "In my opinion, apart from stonefruit access to China for which we're still waiting, there are two countries where we sorely need access to our stonefruit, and that's Taiwan and Vietnam. If you look at the prices for which American exporters sell their product there – having access to those markets would be excellent news for us."
Russia has been interesting. "It's never been a massive market for plums, but they definitely ordered more than in previous years."
For more information:
Lohan Marais
Icon Fruit
Tel: +27 21 860 1800
Email: info@iconfruit.co.za