Strong growth in Middle East and Far East
Citrus Black Spot
(CBS) may continue
to influence the
traditional flow of South
African citrus, but it is also
resulting in more market
diversification.
According to Glenn Delve of
MSC, there is definitely a lower
volume of citrus moving into
the southern Mediterranean
countries – mainly
Spain and to a
lesser extent Italy
– due to CBS.
“The upside
is that the
Middle East and
Far East markets are
seeing stronger growth
as they take more South
African citrus,” he said.
“China in particular seems
to be the favoured Far East
destination for this season.
We are also seeing new
markets traditionally served
by Europe opening up for SA
exporters.
"An example of this is
West Africa which is now
targeted by fruit and fish
exporters. With competitive
transit times from Cape Town
into the main West African
markets, South African
exporters are in a position to
fill the requirement that has
traditionally been filled by
the European exporters.”
Delve said the strong Far
East market had led MSC
to upgrade its service for
perishable exporters.
“We offer direct products
from Durban on our Africa
Express and Ngqura on our
Ipanema services into the
Far East. On our Europe
service we listened to our
customers’ requirements for
a fast transit time into the
UK and from the start of the
2015/2016 grape season we
called London Gateway as
our 1st POD on our European
schedule.”
According to MSC’s Ian
Fairlie, the drought will affect
2016 volumes.
“Due to the drought
impacting large parts of the
country – and in particular
the large citrus production
area in the Limpopo and
Mpumalanga provinces – we
are seeing lower volumes
than last year combined with
smaller-sized fruit.”
INSERT & CAPTION
The West African
market is now
targeted by fruit and
fish exporters.
– Glenn Delve
