Despite all the Covid-19 challenges and associated uncertainties, the 2021 deciduous fruit has been hailed as one of the best production years ever.
According to Hortgro, virtually all production regions have had good winter rains in the past two to three years – with an optimistic outlook for the current year.
There are, however, some areas that continue to be affected by severe drought conditions and where the production base has materially been affected, with loss of planted hectares.
“With record crops for all fruit types, except apricots, which have nearly doubled in yield but are still below record volumes, the trading environment proved a very challenging one, with plum returns in particular being severely depressed and below production costs,” said executive director Anton Rabe.
He cited logistics challenges, particularly at SA ports, as one of the sector’s single biggest risks, given operational inefficiencies, poor and badly maintained equipment, and an international trading and shipping regime that had been severely disrupted globally.
