Sixteen years after Thailand banned the import of South African deciduous fruit, due to an administrative error, negotiations are progressing in the right direction. At the time of the imposition of the ban on the exportation of South African fresh…
Due to adverse weather events like hail and floods earlier in the year, Hortgro has revised its export forecasts for the 2023 season. The estimated export volume for apples is 40.883 million cartons (12.5 kilograms per carton), showing a 10%…
By Waheed Mahomed The past few years have been a time of instability that many people find unfamiliar and leave us feeling insecure. Instability often leads to an increase in uncertainty, discourages investment and negatively impacts any product or system…
Notification issued by the Government of India opens new opportunities for Indian importers to increase volumes The Government of India has approved in-transit cold treatment for South African apple and pear exports to India. The advantage of the cold treatment…
Lox, stock and barrel Loxtonia cider of Ceres’ story by Gerrit Rautenbach. “The fact that we started making cider is because we’ve got sun in South Africa. An abundance of sun. Resulting in a high percentage of sunburn and related…
Members of Hortgro Science’s entomological team visited the Langkloof area in April to follow up on damage to pears possibly caused by sucking insects. Matthew Addison, Crop Protection Programme Manager, and Dr Minette Karsten, a researcher in applied entomology, met…
By Kara van der Berg Hortgro’s Dr Xolani Siboza’s first MScAgric student, Dian Craven, graduated from Stellenbosch University on 4 April. Dr Siboza is a Hortgro-seconded researcher in the Department of Horticultural Science at Stellenbosch University where Craven conducted his study.…
There is more than one type of transformation in this world. The most important one for the father and two daughters team of Protea farm was to farm for themselves. But then getting new life into old orchards was the…
By Jacques du Preez “Africa is not for sissies” is a term often used that undoubtedly describes Africa’s unique challenges – from the varying climates, logistics to doing business navigating the unfortunate “political challenges” prevalent in many countries. And of…
“Industry high standards, agility, and resilience made quick adaptions possible.” During Week 25 of the current pome fruit season, there was a marked increase in apple exports. This in contrast to previous weeks where the impact of Covid-19 played havoc…
The South African 2020 apple export season has started amidst some uncertainty as to how the COVID-19 outbreak will influence international trade. What is certain though, is that there has been a strong West-East trade shift over the past two…
A normal pome fruit season is anticipated for the 2020 season. With good 2019 winter rain, many of the growers are able to prepare a good crop. In general, colour development and pack-outs look promising at this stage. Only on…