BETKO NEWS

BETKO FRESH PRODUCE OFFERS THE HIGHEST QUALITY FRUIT

New season is in full swing at Betko

20 February 2012

With South Africa expecting a higher apple crop, and a slight reduction in pear production, the new season is in full swing

At Betko’s state of the art packing facility outside Villiersdorp in South Africa’s Western Cape region packing of the new season crop is in full swing.

“We are harvesting a crop of excellent quality and our production will be boosted by orchards at our Soetmelksvlei farm coming into full production,” says Betko’s Marketing Executive Roux Groenewald.

Both pack houses at Betko’s packing and cooling facilities are now packing, with Royal Gala and Packham’s Triumph featuring strongly.

Apart from packing and marketing the fruit of as number of other growers, Betko has access to the fruit of the three farms of the Japie Groenewald Trust. This contributes about one third of Betko’s volume.

Oubos, near the town of Riviersonderend, is the  flagship, having been developed by Betko’s founder, Japie Groenewald after buying the farm more than 20 years ago. Sunnyside was added in 2011 and the latest edition is Soetmelksvlei. This is a newly developed 240 hectare apple and pear farming unit in the Sonderend Valley between the towns of Greyton and Riviersonderend.

Japie Groenewald started the project in 2008, planting commenced in 2009 and was finished in 2011. Some of the latest preferred varieties of apples and pears are grown there. This season Soetmelksvlei is already contributing significantly to Betko’s product portfolio.

In total South Africa’s apple export crop is expected to exceed 26 million cartons, which will be higher than the average crop for the past two years, but below the 2009 crop. The pear crop is expected to drop below 13 million cartons for the first time since 2009.

While growers will certainly welcome the good crop prospects, they will be equally concerned about market conditions which would indicate that after two relatively good years this will be a very tough season. South African pear growers in particular are concerned about the large carry-over stocks in Europe.

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