Avocado exports disappoint excitement over citrus agreement with China

RAY SMUTS SOUTH AFRICA will export just under eight million avocados this year for a gross selling price of ( 280 million – not much different from last year. André Slabber, Cape Town manager, logistics and exports, for Westfalia Marketing, says the 2004 volumes are about the same as 2003 but should have been at least 15% higher as this is meant to be an ‘on’ year when production is more prolific than an ‘off’ year. Involved mainly with avocado exports, Westfalia Marketing handled some 33% of the country’s total this past season, 20% of litchis and more than 50% of mangoes, the latter “possibly a slightly distorted” figure in that many growers did not export due to a reasonably poor production year. Overall mango production stood at 3,5 million cartons of which 1,5 million cartons were exported, mainly to Europe and the UK with smaller quantities to the Middle and Far East. “Avocados are difficult to export to China because they are neither red nor yellow,” he says, alluding to the Chinese preference for fruit sporting those colours. Slabber estimates the gross overseas selling price of avocados, mangoes and litchis handled this year by Westfalia Marketing will run to some R114million – about 40% of the total for the three fruits combined. Pointing to a projection that China will rise to become the world’s largest economy by 2015, Slabber shares the excitement of many over the citrus agreement signed recently by that populous country with South Africa. “Next South Africa will be doing citrus business there.” Until now South African fruit reaching mainland China has mainly gone via Hong Kong.