South Africa could moderately fill overreaching demand for dried prunes from falling world production in 2025.
2024-25 local production will upswing to 750 tonnes, per a late 2024 projection by the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC).
Since international demand is outpacing supplies, contract producers who cannot meet their orders can capitalize on this modest output revamp.
SA is still reinstating supplies after 2023-24 fresh prunes/plum production halved year-on-year to 1,455 tonnes. This is according to a 2025 report by the Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD).
Dried prunes meanwhile ride on a high demand wave, by being perhaps the most popular fruit export by SA in 2025.
International Demand Bursting
This at a time when demand has driven the global prunes industry to a market value of $1.34 billion in 2025, per the Data Insights Market.
The aggregator expects a 6.33% annual growth trajectory to soar the total worth to $2.06 billion by 2032.
Growth owes to rising appreciation by consumers of the health benefits of stone fruits such as the provision of vitamin K.
SA’s Market in Europe
In Europe, there is a 2024-2025 supply gap after the largest source, France, slashed production by -25.9%, to 30,000 tonnes.
France supplies Italy and Spain, among other nations, with Italy being the largest international market for SA’s prunes.
As Africa’s biggest source of mainly the commercially valuable Van der Merwe prune cultivar, South Africa has attractive prospects in Europe.
Indeed, annual extra-EU prune imports rose by 17.1% end 2024 due to lowering production in the bloc’s production capitals of Serbia and France.
This enlarges the prospects for South Africa’s prunes where the 2024-25 harvest might rise by 24.2% annually.
So, a year marking a hit in global production amid exponential demand is promising for supplies of prunes from Western cape. To learn more, scour through the following statistics on national prune production and trade.
South Africa Prunes Statistics
Though having moderate output at a 750-tonne projection (2024-25), South Africa remains the eighth largest producer of prunes worldwide. National production lowered by 2/3rd since its peak in the 1980s to 604 tonnes in the 2023-24 marketing season. The main reasons for the downfall are sporadic drought and rising costs for drying specialty fruits. However, projections for the 2024-25 season are for a supply recovery by 24.1%, year-on-year. This is against an expectation for 2024-25 global supplies to slump by 18% due to downward production in Chile and France, among others.
Are dried prunes a lucrative export for South Africa?
South Africa is a relatively small supplier of prunes by global standards but remains Africa’s largest. In 2023, the country exported 171.714 tonnes of dried prunes worth $630,760, according to the World Bank. Key buyers included Italy at 60 tonnes worth $215,740 and neighboring Botswana at 25.918 tonnes summing up to $109,770.
Which were the most productive years for SA’s prunes/plums?
Production of dried prunes and plums in South Africa reached its heights in the 2022-23 season at 18,809 tonnes. This according to the Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development (DALRRD). Fresh prunes/plums, meanwhile, had their production heyday in the 1992-93 season at 11,808 tonnes. In comparison, the 2023-24 season saw production nosedive to 1,458 tonnes for fresh and 8,355 tonnes for dried specimen.