Despite a generally optimistic outlook for the upcoming stonefruit season, South African growers could face marketing challenges in Europe due to overlapping windows with Italian producers and attractive pome fruit prices hindering sales. 

A spokesperson from South Africa's Hortgro told www.freshfruitportal.com although it was very early in the season, many critical aspects looked to be problem-free.

"There are no major political issues, there are no major climactic issues, so we're hopeful for a good season," said information manager Mariette Kotze.

"The marketing is going to be tough, but we want to remain optimistic about it."

One reason why it could be tougher than normal is because of higher anticipated pome fruit volumes in the EU driving down prices and boosting sales at the expense of other fruits.

The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) has forecast a 9% rise in apple volumes to 11.89 million metric tons (MT), at a time when key export market Russia has been closed due to tensions with the trading bloc.

"There is definitely going to be a bit of competition on the pome fruit side because the market's going to be more full," Kotze said.

"So there will be more pome fruit available and at this stage we reckon that it will be cheaper, which could influence our stonefruit season."

Kotze said some late plum varieties from Europe could also affect how well South Africa performs with its initial shipments, but the problem should not persist for long.

"The only thing we anticipate at this stage is that there might be competition from some late Italian Angelinas that might still be on the market," she said.

"So that could cause problems in the early season. But at this stage we're not too worried regarding the markets - it's more an issue on the pome fruit side with the markets being very full."

Other potential problems with season overlap could also occur depending on the quality of the European stonefruit, since better quality would likely mean the fruit could be stored longer and eat into South Africa's marketing window.

Kotze mentioned the industry's desire to diversify its export markets due to a heavy dependence at present on the EU and other regions, but added this was no easy task.

"If you look at plums, about 50% of South African plums go to the EU - you cannot just shift that volume into any other particular market in any given year," she said.

Although other stonefruit varieties are not quite as heavily reliant on Europe, many are dependent on one single marketing region.

South Africa sends 47% of its nectarines to the United Kingdom, and 43% of peaches to the Middle East - both markets receive the biggest volumes by far for that particular fruit.

The nation's stonefruit industry only exports very small quantities to the U.S. on a special program. Kotze said this was due to the North American country being Chile's 'playground', and the cold treatment protocols in place that would damage the fruit's quality.

Hortgro could not provide nationwide stonefruit crop estimates due to the early stage of the growing season, but Kotze did say production would be higher than last year due to the poor weather growers had experienced in 2013.

"If you look at what has happened during the winter, we expect or anticipate a good season," she said.

"Last year we experienced some hail which wiped out quite a bit of our plums and then there was significant damage to some of our apples. We also had some rain during our harvesting season which impacted on some of our exports.

"So it's way too early to give exact numbers on what we anticipate, but definitely it's going to be more than what it was earlier this year. "

While there have not been any significant plantings of new varieties, Kotze did say there was 'lots of new development' ongoing on the country.

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