SA citrus season keeps track around 200 million cartons

The Southern Hemisphere season season has been a challenging and impacted by several factors: war in the middle east, moribund markets, and port delays amongst others. The Citrus Growers Association from South Africa revised the export numbers to 197,9 million cartons from the 209.4million 15kg cartons at the start of the season. 204 million cartons were shipped last season.

Major disruptions

Several element of the risk materialized at once for the South African citrus industry. A war in the Middle East that closed off routes to markets that usually absorb around 20% of our crop; severe rainfall affected Limpopo and Mpumalanga early in the season, and flooding in the Western and Eastern Cape so severe that some orchards were destroyed outright. Add to that logistical bottlenecks at the ports, steep increases in shipping and input costs, and a global decrease in buying power in key markets.

For more information about South African citrus season and market resilience, you can click here.