African lemons to the Middle East market has been going on for around five weeks now, and according to David Pearce from GF Marketing they are fetching a good price. "The market is virtually empty, normally you have lemons from Turkey but traditionally these are trucked in by road through Syria but that has become more difficult due to the strife there. Exporters are having to send them by sea container which is very expensive."The first South African lemons are reaching 23-26 USD per 15kg carton in the Middle East.
Oranges from South Africa will begin at the end of April and the Navel crop is looking promising, David reckons the main orange export from South Africa will be influenced by the Citrus Black Spot issues in Europe, with growers who have had problems with the disease in the past, avoiding Europe and heading for the Middle East and Asia, at the same time growers who are clear of the disease will increase volumes to Europe, all in all he expects it to balance itself out in the end.
The Egyptian orange crop has been mostly of big fruit which is best suited to the European market, which leaves opportunity in Asia and the Middle East for the South African fruit.
Last year was a disaster for grapefruit with too much fruit on the market, this year is an off year which make it a better year regarding prices.
