SA apple and pear producers eye promising season ahead

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The pear season began early in January, with apples now entering peak season. In the Western Cape, a late but cold winter followed by excellent rainfall has created optimal conditions. These favourable factors during the flowering period have led to satisfactory fruit development, giving growers confidence in a good yield.

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Roelf Pienaar  28 Jan 2025

“Except for the recent warm days, our summer has been cool to date. Late Robert Zulch from the Witzenberg Valley used to say a cool summer is an indication of a good apple season, and we’re currently seeing it in the fruit size.

"When temperatures are scorching, the tree starts to stress, causing smaller fruit. In cooler conditions, you see growth of 3-4 mm each week, and the trees look happy,” says Calla du Toit, Tru-Cape’s procurement manager and an apple and pear producer of the Witzenberg Valley.

No excessive wind damage has been recorded thus far, and the fruit has a nice and clean appearance in all production areas. A bit of sleet during November has been the only downside up until now.

"We have much to be thankful for, as we had no significant wind or flood damage this year."

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The apple season is about a week later than usual, but Calla expects later varieties to catch up.

"At this stage, we don’t expect a bumper crop because of fewer Fuji types, Royal Gala, and Pink Lady on the trees. However, we are cautiously optimistic about a good, average season with exceptional quality all around."

According to all indications, Europe and the United Kingdom are geared to get going with Royal Gala quite early on.

“We are excited about these opportunities, as Tru-Cape’s Royal Gala offering has grown rapidly over the last couple of years, particularly thanks to the addition of BigBucks Gala and Flash Gala,” says Calla.

Renewed focus on blushed pears

It is the start of a new chapter for Tru-Cape as the first commercial quantities of Cape Blush were harvested on farms this season.
“The growing blushed pear category offers new opportunities to us,” Calla says.

“Cape Blush is an early variety offering great colour and fruit size, which is to producers’ benefit. Our trials indicate a better storage ability than Rosemarie, which tends to turn yellow. We now have the chance to supply markets further away from us with early blushed pears.

"We can also supply markets with a demand for bigger fruit, such as Canada and Vietnam.

"The Chinese market finds the red blush attractive, enabling us to supply blushed pears to Vietnam and China throughout the year. Cape Blush follows on the last Forelle of the previous season.

"Tru-Cape is also marketing Celina pears under the QTee brand for the first time."

Improvement in the port of Cape Town

The apple and pear industry remains hopeful that logistics will be less of a challenge than in the past couple of years.

According to Roelf Pienaar, managing director of Tru-Cape, the port of Cape Town has shown a lot of improvement during December. While it is a step in the right direction, Roelf emphasised there is still room for improvement.

“The fruit export season commenced later, giving port authorities more time to prepare and alleviate the pressure during the traditional peak periods. Weather conditions were also more favourable during December, with the wind causing less disruption than in other years.”

While the overall productivity of the port didn’t improve much, operations were certainly more stable.

“Equipment was more readily available, and the operational processes have certainly improved. We are grateful for the good work of Hortgro and other role players to help address the crisis.”