Citrus Week 19 Report from Golden Wing Mau

Week 19 saw little change in the overall citrus market, with late navels and Valencia from the northern hemisphere continuing to enter the market at a consistent rate resulting in little fluctuation of price. Lemons however saw some changes due to an increase volume arriving from U.S.A, with South African fruit remaining limited.

The best U.S.A late navels continued to sell in the range ¥290-320 (count #72/88, 20kg), showing good quality with consistent colouration and limited marking on the surface. This as good quality Valencia types moved at up to ¥250-260, while poorer quality fruit with more visual concerns sold for between ¥210-230 (count #72/88, 20kg). Spanish navels remained in two price brackets, with the best visually pleasing and consistently packed oranges able to move at ¥210-230 (15kg) as fruit with an overall bad first impression, with different visual concerns pricing between ¥170-190. Depending on how fruit was allocated some regions were able to return better results.

Egyptian Valencia remained available on the market, with high quality fruit packed in sought after brands able to sell at the top of the range at between ¥120-140 (count #56/64, 15kg), this as some arrivals showing below standard quality pricing below ¥80 with limited interest by buyers.

Lemon arrivals increased during week 19 with more U.S.A fruit coming to market and a possibility of a spillover of South African fruit into the market. These arrivals noticeably put pressure on asking prices with U.S.A product asking between ¥370-410 (count #165, 20kg) this down by ¥10-30 in week 18, and South African stocks priced between ¥260-310 (count #138, 15kg). Movement for the stocks available remained sluggish but manageable.

Further arrivals of South African grapefruit were received however prices remained high due to the scarcity of the product. Good quality fruit with smooth surfacescoupled with excellent blush priced between ¥280-300 (17kg). Exports from South Africa remain down as sizing of fruit has been problematic and pricing remains high for the larger fruits available.