South Africa’s (RSA) apple and pear season began a few weeks ago, a season that will present quite a few challenges for members of the industry.

Overall, South African pome fruit production is considered stable, with small yet constant growth pushed by replanting of new varieties with better yields, however this may not be the case for  2023. 

Due to hail storms that occurred in late November and early December, it is anticipated that both apples and pears will experience a decline in export figures for the 2023 season. 

Apple exports were initially forecast to decrease by 5% to 43.1 million cartons, while pear exports were expected to decrease by 6% to 19.8 million cartons. 

The following tables show export estimates for apples and pears:

Apple export estimate 2023

Pear export estimate 2023

Regions mostly affected by hail storms were Ceres and Langkloof. Unfortunately, Langkloof has experienced additional hailstorms in recent weeks, which resulted in these figures going down even more. 

According to Hortgro, “The recent hailstorm in the Langkloof affected about 1500 ha of apple and pear orchards and destroyed infrastructure on several farms.  The total loss of export volumes is on the order of 1.2 million cartons.  This represents between 20% to 25% of Langkloof's normal export crop.”

Latest crop volumes reported for the pome fruit season indicate that the numbers should be 8% lower for apples and 13% lower for pears compared to last season, a significant setback for the industry.

Export markets

The European market is looking strong, and with high demand it may even be under-supplied. 

However, the African market is facing different challenges. The Nigerian currency is fluctuating, and West Africa is experiencing a dollar shortage. Inflation is also a major concern in Africa with Ghana experiencing an alarming rate of 54.1%. 

Despite this, Africa remains a significant importer of apples from RSA. African countries are particularly fond of Golden Delicious, which remains one of South Africa’s biggest-volume apple varieties.

Rising costs

Anton Rabe, executive director of Hortgro indicates that lower export volumes from Southern Hemisphere countries in general will likely cause a shortage of apples and pears in the second half of the year for international markets.

"Fruit prices have to rise, due to increases in input costs and structural adjustments.

Packing materials are expected to increase by a further 20%, the minimum wage has increased by just under 10% while fertilizer and chemical costs are still at extremely high levels. Together with the challenges of load shedding and logistics in our ports, producers simply cannot absorb further increases in input/production costs," said Rabe.

The initial assessment of the South African pome fruit crop notes that electrical load shedding is having a significant impact on the crop’s viability. 

To put the load shedding issue into perspective, South Africa experienced only 5 days of load shedding in 2018, which grew to 51 days in 2022. In 2023, it is hard to think of a day where load shedding didn’t occur, and most days this meant 4 to 6 hours without electricity.

To add to the issues, the country suffered massive delays due to strong winds in the Cape Town harbor. 

From January to February, over 15 days of loadings were lost. These difficulties are contributing to another very challenging season. 

A lot of difficult decisions have been made that will have a direct impact on the bottom line. The effects of these decisions will be felt by everyone, from the growers to the governments, and of course, the consumers.