South African orange exports hit by bad weather
July 24 (Reuters) -South Africa has cut its orange export forecast for the 2024 season due to bad weather in key growing regions, the country's citrus growers' association said on Wednesday, as a global orange juice squeeze drives prices to record highs.
South Africa's bleak orange export forecast comes at a time when Brazil, the world's top orange producer and orange juice exporter, is on track for its worst harvest in three decades due to a combination of bad weather and citrus disease. This has pushed orange juice prices to record highs.
South Africa is the world's second biggest orange fruit exporter after Egypt, and the overall second largest citrus exporter globally after Spain. It ships most of its fruit to Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, North America, the United Kingdom and Russia.
The Citrus Growers Association of Southern Africa (CGA) said in a statement it had cut orange production forecasts due to recent storms and flooding in Citrusdal in the Western Cape and frost damage in Marble Hall and Groblersdal in Limpopo.
South Africa now expects to export 51.6 million 15-kg cartons of Valencia oranges, lower than the season opening forecast of 58 million cartons, the CGA said. South Africa exported 52.1 million cartons of Valencias in 2023.
The country also expects to export 21 million 15-kg cartons of Navel oranges this year, lower than the initial estimate of 25.7 million cartons. It exported 24.8 million cartons last year.
"It is now clear that there will not be an oversupply of oranges this season. We are looking at a balanced market," Jan-Louis Pretorius, Vice Chairman of the CGA and a citrus grower in Limpopo, said in the statement.
Reporting by Nelson Banya
Editing by Peter Graff
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
