The judge accepts a proposal to suspend a conditional 2-year prison sentence, which the Orsero family says neither constitutes an admission of guilt nor proof of the charges.
After delays in 2019 which saw Eastern Cape citrus farmers lose millions due to fruit spoiling on the quayside, Transnet Port Terminals has ploughed funds into infrastructure and training.
Egypt was the world's largest shipper of oranges in 2019 for the second successive year, with exports totalling 1.7m MT.
The world's largest banana exporter shipped 357m boxes of bananas in 2019, a volume increase of less than 2% year-on-year, according to banana association Acorbanec.
The value of Mexican avocado exports to the United States increased to US$2.53bn in 2019, some US$1bn more than the value achieved in 2015.
The world's largest container shipping company says earnings will be affected after what is says is a 'very, very weak' February and likely weak March due to the deadly epidemic.
Pressure builds on the availability of reefer equipment as more than one in two carrier departures from Asia to North Europe are being cancelled.
The trade deal that will allow South African pears into the Chinese market, which should have been signed last November, has not yet been ratified.
Biosecurity officers have recently seized a number of fruit items at Australia's borders, which were found to be carrying the disease.
A month after winning the country's grand exporter award, the Fyffes pineapple farm in Costa Rica has been granted Sustainable Agriculture Standard Certification.
The German carrier raised operating profit by 80% as it earned higher freight rates and cut costs, it reported yesterday.
In addition to the record value of fruit and vegetable imports, Bosnia-Herzegovina shipped 7% less of its own produce in 2019 and now imports 90% of total food consumed.
The Danish shipping group has agreed to buy U.S. warehousing and distribution firm Performance Team as part of plans to deliver more customised logistics solutions.
The US multinational swings back into the black in 2019 as it shifts its focus into becoming a value-added and more diversified company.
Hundreds of trucks have been stranded for over a week in the buffer zone between Russia and Ukraine, waiting for Russia to officially increase its quota for Turkish tomatoes.
The major Chinese port city of Ningbo is to relax travel restrictions on container truck drivers who have been struggling to return to work amid the spreading coronavirus.
Although season-to-date exports are on a par with last year, supplies are likely to taper off dramatically in March, according to Vanguard International Group projections.
A series of adverse weather events caused a 475K MT year-on-year fall in fruit production in 2019, with apples the worst hit.
The combination of productivity issues and problems with fruit flies means that the growth in exports will be 3-5% year-on-year, and not the 10-15% anticipated.
Less than a week after acquiring 3 banana ripening facilities from distributor Canavese, it has emerged that France's leading ripener is to build a new facility in the Nord Gironne.
In the first half of 2019, the volume and value of Chinese durian imports doubled year-on-year to 358K MT and US$963m, respectively.
The 440m sterile fruit flies are to be used by the Moroccan Government as part of its pest control programme.
The retail chain has ordered the recall of oranges sold in bags, which the company said contained an excessive amount of pesticide residue.
The Suriname agriculture minister is reported to have threatened legal action after The Fruit Farm Group exited banana production in the former Dutch colony.
The crew of a reefer vessel have been arrested by Danish police for their part in a bid to smuggle 310 kgs of cocaine worth upwards of US$150m into the country.
The volume and value totals of Costa Rican banana exports in 2019 finished the year well ahead of initial expectations, according to National Banana Corporation Corbana.
The Kenyan government issued an export ban last November to prevent producers harvesting an immature crop.
The Japanese carrier Joint Venture has implemented a US$1,000 per container congestion surcharge for reefer cargoes arriving in Shanghai and Xingang.
Police in Costa Rica have made the biggest seizure of illegal drugs in the country's history, finding more than five tonnes of cocaine in a reefer container.
The integrated Egyptian fruit producer expects strong pricing in international markets for the second half of the northern hemisphere citrus season.
Carrier MSC warns that as a result of worsening congestion, reefer containers may be discharged at alternative ports and says it is not liable for any loss or damage caused.
The kiwifruit marketer has been awarded NZ$15m in damages after the company's SunGold variety was unlawfully taken to China and distributed to other growers.
However, South Africa is still waiting for the official gazetting of a moratorium that will allow high cube containers to be transported at a height of 4.6m until the end of 2021.
The CMA CGM subsidiary says it is to impose a US$2,000 Peak Season Surcharge on services from South America to Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and China.
The Philippines' Court of Tax Appeals has ruled in favour of Dole Fresh Fruit Company in a lawsuit involving taxes paid by the company in 2013.
The 21% reduction in shipments against December volumes was partly the result of rainfall in Rio Grande do Norte and partly due to the early start of shipments from Central America.
The kiwifruit marketer has made a series of commitments, one being that it will move to 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025.
The acquisition of the Las Brisas farm complements the Pura Vida melon farm in which the Irish firm has a 50% share.
Approximately 1 tonne of the Class A narcotic was discovered by Dutch police in Rotterdam in a reefer container bound for Portugal.
Despite finding Codling Moth larvae, authorities have said they will not close the border to Argentinean apple and pear imports.
A 'complex and extreme' solution is required to reverse what was an historically low set of results in 2019, according to the B.C. Fruit Growers' Association.
Ukrainian exports of fresh produce brought the country US$339m in revenue last year, which is 9.4% more than in 2018, and 20.1% more than in 2017.
The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development says it has the tacit support of Fyffes and UGPBAN in its mission to find a solution for Panama Disease.
Container lines have reported slow pickups of reefer containers at ports in Shanghai, Ningbo and Tianjin as truck drivers remain affected by travel bans and quarantine rules.
The acquisition of the facilities in Aubagne, Marseille and Valence will increase potential annual throughput for the Union des Groupements to over 200K MT.
The retail sector has warned about disruption to the supply of fruit and vegetables after Britain confirmed it will introduce import controls on EU goods from January 2021.
However, shipments to date are ahead of the reduction in volumes forecast as a result of unseasonal rainfall and the resulting impact on fruit quality.
In an attempt to re-gain market share lost last year to Morocco, more than 1,000 promotional buses are to criss-cross the streets of six French cities until April.
An exotic caterpillar with the potential to destroy fruit crops overnight has been found on Australian territory for the first time.
While grapefruit continues to outperform its early-season forecast, the outlook for the orange crop has dropped, according to the latest USDA update.
In this year's campaign, Peruvian citrus exports are forecast to exceed 200K MT, which would represent a 5% growth over the 190K MT shipped in 2019.
Record production in New Zealand and a large South African crop are projected to offset the smallest Chilean apple crop in more than a decade, according to WAPA.
Diminished trade as a result of the coronavirus outbreak may be costing container shipping lines as much as US$350m a week in lost volumes.
High demand for fresh Australian vegetables in key export markets saw exports increase by 6.6% in value to A$299m in 2019, according to the industry body.
The combination of strong demand from international markets and a weather-related dip in supply has seen the spot trade FOB price rise as high as US$10.30 per box.
Potato farmers in the main production region of Famagusta said an overnight frost had damaged their crops, warning that not enough could be saved to serve foreign markets.
Disaster looms for the Filipino banana industry as its largest export market suspends imports due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Reefer congestion in Xingang and Shanghai terminals has caused yard density to reach critical levels, forcing Maersk to divert cargo as no reefer plugs are available.
Russia's second-largest food retailer said it is suspending fruit and vegetable imports from China due to the spread of the coronavirus and logistical complications.
Fruit exporters from Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand are faced with the choice of flooding domestic markets, or seeing it rot at closed Chinese border crossings.
Australia's largest fruit and vegetable supplier says it is to use artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to optimise its berry farming operations in multiple states.
Israel has blocked the movement of Palestinian agricultural exports via Jordan amid fears, it says, of renewed regional violence.
In 2020, Brazilian fruit shipments to Middle Eastern markets are projected to grow 30% for the second successive year.
The carrier is to take a total of 10,000 of the Maersk Container Industry's Star Cool Controlled Atmosphere FEUs.
This slowdown in freight activity is having a ripple effect, prompting container lines to shelve sailings during early February and beyond.
Reports suggest that as many as 2,000 reefer containers, equivalent to 40K MT of cherries may have been stranded at ports or inland as authorities battle to contain the outbreak.
While South Africa is expecting to ship a record volume of apples, pear shipments are projected lower as a result of a poor fruit set and a strong domestic processing market.
Some six years after it was first filed, a multimillion-dollar legal claim against Zespri Group by its former Chinese importer has been dropped.
Despite new reefer container output falling in 2019, Maersk Container Industry claims it increased its share of the market.
A suspected case of the devastating disease has been detected in the region that supplies more than 90% of bananas to Australia.
The German carrier is adding near real-time monitoring of its reefer containers to its product portfolio, known as 'Hapag-Lloyd LIVE'.
Bulgaria and neighboring Romania are considered key transit points for cocaine from Latin America to Western Europe.
NZ Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard said it looked as though it would be business as usual for the first shipments of pipfruit, due to depart for China next week.
The company has signed a long-term lease on 342 hectares within California's Central Coast region to grow its new brand of non-GMO Wonderful Seedless Lemons.
There is a seasonal shortage of avocadoes in the world's eighth largest avocado producing nation, causing local prices to spike.
After a disastrous 2019, the port has invested heavily in hardware, software and staff training to ensure citrus exports from South Africa’s eastern Cape are better managed.
The Filipino banana export industry wants the government to set a cap on the exit price of the commodity to help smooth out seasonal demand swings and harvest fluctuations.
The 2m-carton reduction in the export crop from the Hex Valley has been partially offset by the realisation of good volumes from 3 of the 4 remaining principal production regions.
Scientists warn that the combination of drought and a low accumulation of cold units will impact on the size and colour quality of Brazilian Galas and Fujis.
The US$19.7m project developed by Israeli company Agritop and the Ghanaian government is expected to transform the country’s vegetable export sector.
