Plantations

The most awaited season for fruit is in full swing throughout South Africa, with 12 million containers of apples packaged and shipped. The export season for apples is about a third complete. Nine million boxes of pears are packed up, which is just half the volume estimated. The estimations for both the pears and apples are consistently lowered since the initial estimates were made during the first week of the season due to inclement weather conditions and damage to crops. Apples' current estimate is down by 7% over last year's, following the initial estimate of an increase of 6% in 2022's [...]

The first ship to transport South African grapefruit to Japan arrived at the Port of Durban the weekend before, one or two weeks ahead of the normal schedule. "Usually the grapefruit we get would be ripe in June at the beginning of June. However, this year's is expected to arrive a little later," says an exporter. Hoedspruit began its harvest of grapefruit earlier. They usually begin following Easter, but this year, since the start of April, grapefruit were ripe. In week 14 1.3 million grapefruit cartons were packed. 61% were shipped to European Union, 17% to Asia (32 percent last year [...]

Evidently, fake images which appear to depict the shape of grapes in a star have been circulated on the internet for a long time. Some internet users have been led to think they're a real fruit grown in Japan. However, experts from the viticulture industry claimed there was no things as grapes with star shapes and AFP has found a number of videos showing how to make the images by using editing software. The photos that were doctored were posted via a post on Facebook that claimed they were "a brand new grape variety" which was introduced in Japan. They were, [...]

The world of bananas is constantly evolving, from field , through ripening and finally the creation of improved shelf-life methods. Since bananas are a significant item for consumers and are a major source of income, the quality of them is an important issue. The quality of products and services has an effect on thousands of customers. Each step of the supply chain poses particular challenges, and presents chances to enhance the level of quality and customer satisfaction. So, the fresh produce experts from Normec are organizing an Mini Symposium on Banana Quality to quality managers and Quality inspectors as well as [...]

When the World Avocado Congress wrapped up in Auckland, New Zealand, South Africa was announced as the venue for the next event, which will take place in 2027. The event ran for three days. the local host welcomed more than 1200 guests, who came from 33 different countries, joining other prominent members of the local avocado sector. It was the largest international contingent to a gardening event held on the shores of New Zealand. The closing event of the agenda included a gala-style dinner as well as a Mexican wave celebration to celebrate the close of an extremely successful international event [...]

Kenya intends to double the export of avocados by Sh15 billion up to Sh30 billion each year in the coming five years due to an increase in demand for this country's avocados in the international market. Ernest Muthomi, Chief Executive Officer of Avocado Society of Kenya (ASK) says that Kenya wants to increase its markets of interest globally, after it landed its China market last year. The first deliveries being delivered between the months of July and August. "We hope to see the nation gets Sh30 billion annually through avocado farming over the coming five years. At present, the production of [...]

Following the successful exports of a variety of fruit and vegetables, including watermelon, guava and tomato - the first shipment of bananas in green is headed for Malaysia coming from Chattogram Port. Sattar International, a Chattogram-based exporter of fruit and vegetable and exporter, has shipped 4.5 tonnes of green bananas in the Bogura's Shibganj to Malaysia with containers that are reefer-proof. Towhidul Islam, managing director for Sky-sea Land Shipping Line, clearing and forwarding agent for Sattar International, stated that the vessel that is carrying the consignment of bananas worth $6,000, is set to depart towards the Malaysian port of Port Kelang [...]