AGRICULTURE NEWS - Roelf Pienaar, managing director of Tru-Cape, speaking during a virtual meeting on the forecast for the year ahead, said the outlook for pome fruit was bullish thanks to favourable climatic conditions leading to record fruit volumes at the start of 2022. However, everything went south when the war on Ukraine broke out, which exacerbated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on markets, logistics, and the economy.
Pienaar stated that he is starting the season cautiously optimistic and full of hope. He said, “There are many challenges, but we will try to get the right fruit of the right quality to the right markets, and control what we can.”
Towards the end of January, Hortgro estimated that apple exports could decrease by 1% this season from roughly 45,3 million (12,5kg-equivalent) cartons in the previous season to 44,8 million cartons. Pear exports were expected to drop 3% from 21,2 million cartons in the previous season to 20,6 million cartons this season.
Read the full article here on the Caxton publication, Farmer's Weekly
