Ed Bedington
South Africa's easy peeler season is to enjoy a substantial extension this year.
The season, which traditionally ends in August, is now expected to finish in September as a result of the cultivation of new varieties, said leading producer Capespan.
This is the first result of the efforts of Citrospan, a joint venture owned by Capesan and many of the industry's leading breeders to develop not only indigenous varieties but also harness the best late maturity fruit from other sources.
There have been exclusive agreements in Israel to propagate and sell Or and Mor, with a similar arrangement in Morocco with Afourer. Capespan marketing manager Martin Dunnett is already meeting a strong market with the arrival of the first satsumas and expects to sell around 140,000 cartons in the UK this season. Availability will continue until mid-June, by which time clementines will be in full swing.
"We expect 250,000 cartons of clementines this year for the UK, and fruit will be arriving in the UK within a fortnight," he added.
Navel oranges should be available from the end of May with a programme of 300,000 cartons, to be followed by Valencia Lates making a total of a million cartons.
This year will also see the arrival of an early strain of Valencia called Juvalle, which will begin to appear in mid-July.
Last year grapefruit was already on the market, but the hot dry weather, while producing the promise of good quality fruit, is running two weeks late.
In total there will be some 300,000 cartons of white and pigmented varieties from Capespan, equally balanced.
{{MARKET EDGE }}
South Africa's easy peeler season is to enjoy a substantial extension this year.
The season, which traditionally ends in August, is now expected to finish in September as a result of the cultivation of new varieties, said leading producer Capespan.
This is the first result of the efforts of Citrospan, a joint venture owned by Capesan and many of the industry's leading breeders to develop not only indigenous varieties but also harness the best late maturity fruit from other sources.
There have been exclusive agreements in Israel to propagate and sell Or and Mor, with a similar arrangement in Morocco with Afourer. Capespan marketing manager Martin Dunnett is already meeting a strong market with the arrival of the first satsumas and expects to sell around 140,000 cartons in the UK this season. Availability will continue until mid-June, by which time clementines will be in full swing.
"We expect 250,000 cartons of clementines this year for the UK, and fruit will be arriving in the UK within a fortnight," he added.
Navel oranges should be available from the end of May with a programme of 300,000 cartons, to be followed by Valencia Lates making a total of a million cartons.
This year will also see the arrival of an early strain of Valencia called Juvalle, which will begin to appear in mid-July.
Last year grapefruit was already on the market, but the hot dry weather, while producing the promise of good quality fruit, is running two weeks late.
In total there will be some 300,000 cartons of white and pigmented varieties from Capespan, equally balanced.
{{MARKET EDGE }}
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