I welcome the news that the 2021 harvest season is finished with excellent crops realised. This augurs well for the 2021 export season.
The 2021 export season YTD Week 31 figures show 24.66 million cartons of apples have been exported thus far. Of these, 29% have been exported to the Far East, 22% to Africa and 22% to the UK.
12.596m cartons of pears have been exported thus far, with 31% exported to the EU, 19% to the Far East, and 18% to Russia and the Middle East, respectively.
The industry expects apples passed for export to increase to 42.55m cartons (+16%) and pears to 17.47m cartons (+4%). Should this materialise, it will be a record volume.
However, I am concerned about the possible detrimental impact on our exports caused by shipping delays due to wind and equipment breakdowns, vessels omitting, and container shortages.
Therefore, I support the industry’s call to Transnet to put measures in place to make up for this lost time by procuring new equipment.
I do so because increasing our exports will positively impact the economy of the Western Cape and lead to more jobs being created when they are desperately needed.
Daniel Johnson
Spokesperson for Minister Ivan Meyer
Tel: 079 990 4231