After a season with a lot of weather antics in the Southern Hemisphere, there are more and more stonefruit shortages in Europe and the United Kingdom. The prices of the South African exporters are almost reaching record levels at the moment for this reason, the German website Fruchthandel.de reports.
The producers in South Africa even have smaller amounts than usual available, which affects the price when combined with higher demand. Gysbert du Toit, manager of Dutoit, spoke about this situation to freshfruitportal.com. "A number of other countries such as Chile also had a smaller nectarine and other stonefruit harvest. This is causing shortages. The markets have turned to South Africa to fill the gaps," Du Toit explains.
Du Toit estimates that the South Africa volume will be 15% smaller due to hail, frost and rain.
