Bountiful Harvest Expected

Fruit producers have forecast a good season despite sleepy trees being confused by an erratic end to winter, analysts have said.

 

And the falling rand is expected to help the export market, with rising input costs the only cloud in the sky, says SA Pome and Stone Fruit product manager Stefan Conradie.

 

Conradie, whose organisation is part of the Deciduous Fruit Producers Trust, said it was still too early to make crop forecasts.

 

But he said plum, nectarine and peach farmers were likely to have a good harvest, while apricot farmers were expected to have a lighter crop.

 

Conradie forecast an export harvest of 3 750 tons of apricots; 44 625 tons of plums; 5 000 tons of nectarines; 2 500 tons of peaches; 162 500 tons of pears and 312 500 tons of apples, with roughly the same amount to be produced for the domestic market.