When does South Africa export plums?

South Africa ships plums November–February, with March and October at the shoulders. These are export weeks out of the origin, not arrival weeks in your market.

When do South Africa plums arrive in Europe?

On the South Africa → United Kingdom run, quoted at 16–22 days port to port, that window lands around week 46–12 — November–March. Add the road leg at either end.

South Africa plum export season (2026)

South Africa plum export season

South Africa ships plums November–February, with March and October at the shoulders. Lands November–March on the South Africa → United Kingdom run.

Ships

November–February

March, October at the shoulders

Lands

week 46–12

on the South Africa → United Kingdom run, 16–22 days

South Africa plums: the export window by month, and the weeks each lane lands it.
Stage	Month J F M A M J J A S O N D
Ships out of South Africa	Ships november–february peak · march, october shoulder
South Africa → United Kingdom 16–22 days · week 46–12	Lands week 46–12 on the South Africa → United Kingdom run

Peak Shoulder Landing Port to port, across services rather than one schedule. Add the road leg at either end.

Varieties Angeleno, Fortune, Songold Load ports Cape Town, Durban, and Gqeberha

Roughly October to March out of the Western Cape, ahead of and overlapping the Chilean window.

Plums are picked firm and ripen at destination, so the variable that decides how a container lands is the ripeness it left at rather than the days it spent at sea. South Africa’s shorter voyage gives the buyer more room to get that wrong.

Last reviewed August 2026. Editorial ranges for a normal year, not a published schedule. Weather moves them, sometimes by weeks.

Importing plums out of South Africa? Trackberry tracks those containers and reads the paperwork that arrives with them, in one place. Book a 20-minute chat.

South Africa plum export season

Also out of South Africa

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