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Cranberry consumption and imports are growing in South Africa, with demand for dried cranberries and juice rising among middle-income, health-conscious consumers.

In Marketing Year (MY) 2024/25 growers in South Africa are forecast to divert more citrus volumes towards processing as elevated prices make juicing a lower risk alternative. The production of orange, grapefruit, tangerine/mandarin and lemon in MY...

In marketing year (MY) 2024/25, due to the increase in area planted and assuming regular yields, Post estimates that lemon production will grow by 2.6 percent, reaching 197,000 metric tons (MT). Chilean lemon exports will increase 3.3 percent...

In marketing year (MY) 2024/25, due to favorable climatic conditions, avocado production is expected to total 200,000 metric tons (MT), representing a 33.3 percent increase from MY 2023/24. The area planted will total 33,010 hectares, reflecting a one percent growth from MY 2023/24.

The production of apples, pears and table grapes is forecast to improve in MY 2024/25 from MY 2023/24 based on the cold, wet winter of 2024 and new trees coming into production.

In July 2024, USDA published the final notice allowing certain table grapes to be safely imported by the United States from parts of Chile. The new requirements will allow table grapes from areas of Chile where European grapevine moth is either absent or at a low prevalence and will also protect U.S. agriculture from Chilean false red mite.

For the past decade, Chile’s planted cherry area maintained steady growth, due to its profitability. There is a high demand for Chilean cherries from the Chinese market, which receives over 91 percent of Chilean cherry export volume.

Chilean raisins are almost exclusively produced from grapes deemed unsuitable for the export market at vineyards focused on fresh table grape production for export. In marketing year (MY) 2024/25, Post estimates that due to low area planted, raisin production will total 68,900 metric tons (MT), a 6.9 percent decrease from MY 2023/24.

Record orange juice prices are expected to escalate orange juice production as growers increase deliveries for processing. Growers are diverting oranges from the export market and local sales towards processing on favorable prices.

In marketing year (MY) 2023/24, with an increasing trend in area planted and assuming regular yields, Post estimates lemon production to grow by 6.7 percent and reach 175,000 (MT) metric tons. Chilean lemon exports will increase 8.8 percent, totaling 74,000 metric tons.

The cold and wet winter of 2023 provided favorable conditions for deciduous fruit and aided in improved production volumes. Production is expected to grow and improve in quality from MY 2022/23 when fruit was affected by hail damage.

In marketing year (MY) 2023/24, higher than normal temperatures early in the winter and a slow accumulation of chilling hours caused a delay in the harvest, and subsequently a delay in export shipment, of most deciduous fruit.