The impact of the recent Western Cape drought to South Africa’s 2018 agricultural exports is marginal when viewed in value terms. South Africa’s agricultural exports for the first 11 months of 2018 amounted to US$9.9 billion, which is 0.5% lower than 2017 exports.
A very marketable crop of grapefruit, with a size distribution peaking on counts 40 and 45 and a higher percentage of class 1 exports over last year, will end earlier this season, which may cause some markets to run short of fruit.