Geography and weather have spread South African citrus growers across a wide spectrum of outlooks for the 2014 season, which also ties in to how different exporters view their prospects in Europe.

Core Fruit citrus technical manager Steve Turner said he was more cautious over the EU market than last year, partly due to a late Spanish season.

“There has been a much longer overlap of varieties of Spanish soft citrus, such as mandarins, which has overall led to a tougher market for easy peelers. Last year was very early for us, so we were able to go into an early market,” Turner told www.freshfruitportal.com.

Unseasonal late rains in the north of the country this year have meant that Core Fruit will have to wait longer this year to pick many varieties of easy peelers.

“It's generally been quite good conditions, but a bit of late summer rain and patches of hail in the northern area hasn't helped our early soft citrus such as Satsumas,” he added.

Elsewhere in South Africa, producers have reported that they are feeling very optimistic about the European market this season. Everseason director Stiaan Engelbrecht does not share the same concerns as Turner regarding easy peelers in the EU.

“Overall I don't think the market is that good, but it is looking very good for easy peelers. The European market is strong, the U.K. market is strong, and the U.S. as well. They are all looking very strong,” Engelbrecht said.

Despite the positive feeling toward easy peelers generally in Europe, Engelbrecht reported that he is much less optimistic about key varieties of oranges in the continent, mainly due to an abundance of the fruit coming from Spain and parts of northern Africa.

“The Navel market is still a little bit depressed, with too much product from Eygpt, Morocco and Spain still in the European market, and a lot of volume available from other parts of the Northern Hemisphere,” he added.

Growers are also very cautious of the upcoming season for grapefruit in EU and U.S. markets. Bonaire Fruit marketing manager Andre Gerber said he was not feeling so positive about this year's prospects.

"It's going to be challenging. It hasn’t been a fantastic season with grapefruit in the Northern Hemisphere. We're going into a sluggish market and South Africa has a lot of grapefruit, so things could be pretty tricky," Gerber said.

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