Local port crisis sabotages avo exports

EXPECTATIONS THAT the citrus season now in progress would top out at 58 million cartons is proving somewhat bullish, and the latest forecast suggests that the season will finish at around the 50 million carton mark.
Although this represents a 16% drop it still means a 6% growth against the previous season. 47 million cartons were exported in the previous season, says Niels Hubinger, CEO of the PPECB.
Subtropical fruit had a topsy-turvy ride, with an excellent crop of avocado pears leading to expectations of 13 million cartons being exported. That came before the recent port crisis, with shipping delays and exports being held up due to labour unrest and other Portnet problems.
With a shelf life of only 28 days for avos, any such delay in getting the shipments underway proved disastrous, and led to large volumes of cargo being condemned on arrival in Europe. It's reported that several million cartons were destroyed for this reason - at R30 box!
At other times hold-ups in local ports resulted in three ships reaching the European market simultaneously, causing an oversupply. It is the farmers who take the knock when this happens, but Portnet can probably expect a claim or two.
Other sub-tropical fruit exports have apparently gone well this season, with good returns reported especially on litchis and mangoes.
The year ahead? It's extremely difficult to call, say the experts.
What seems certain is that there has been a surplus of refrigerated shipping available because of the El Nino effect on South and North America. Equally certain is that this is not likely to be repeated, and freight rates, from which South African exporters benefited greatly during the past season, will rise proportionately.
The effect of new exchange rates remain untested, and it has been pointed out that most producer countries had similar currency devaluations.
The one thing in SA's favour remains the considerably shorter distance to the market from South Africa, compared with producers in Australia and Chile.