According to reports, many stone fruit producing countries in the northern hemisphere have encountered low temperature and heavy snowfall. Affected by this cold weather, South African stone fruit may usher in huge business opportunities. Earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that the seven major stone fruit producing countries in the world, including China, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, and the United States, will start to cut production before the end of the year. The northern hemisphere stone fruit season will end from November to December this year. Open again in May.
It is expected that stone fruit production in the European market will drop by more than 600,000 tons, which is significantly lower than the previous estimate of more than 4 million tons. In China, due to the snowfall in April in the main stone fruit producing provinces, production will be 500,000 tons lower than the originally expected 1.55 million tons. Affected by Russia's ban on Chinese fruit imports, exports in this area have fallen by one third. The US stone fruit will also be reduced by 26,000 tons from the estimated output of over 700,000 tons. Among the major stone fruit producing countries in the world, only Turkey is unaffected, and stone fruit is expected to increase revenue for the sixth consecutive year.
Hortgro, the association of deciduous fruit tree growers, believes that the 2020-21 stone fruit season in South Africa is "normal", and the overall output of stone fruit is expected to increase over the previous year, with apricots growing 23% year-on-year. The export volume of nectarines will increase from 5 million boxes last year to 5.6 million boxes. The export volume of plums is expected to increase by 22% year-on-year, and the peaches will return to the normal track of an annual growth rate of 5%. However, the efficiency of the Port of Cape Town is worrying. Problems such as manpower shortage, cargo congestion, and infrastructure equipment have seriously affected the port operation.
South Africa, which produces stone fruits off-season, is the largest apricot exporter in the southern hemisphere. Its exports of peaches, nectarines and plums are second only to Chile, and South Africa's plum exports rank among the top six in the world. There are currently about 887 stone fruit producers in South Africa, with an annual revenue of about R2.46 billion (about 1.01 billion yuan), of which 81% are sold in the current season.