South African citrus growers said Monday that citrus exports for this year were short of expectations owing to a number of challenges faced by the sector.
The Citrus Growers Association of Southern Africa (CGA) said they packed for export 164.8 million cartons to be delivered to the global market this year, an increase of 3.2 million cartons when compared to 2021. But the figure was 5.7 million cartons less than what was predicted at the start of the season.
“As a result, while there was modest growth in fruit packed and exported across some citrus varieties when compared to 2021, the final figures were far lower than what was predicted when the season started in March this year,” said Justin Chadwick, CEO of CGA.
There was also an increase in farming input prices, transport costs and shipping prices, which made the cost of getting fruit to market commercially not viable for many growers, Chadwick said, adding that they face unreliable electricity supply, a decline in real export prices, and decline in roads, rail and port operations.
The citrus sector sustains about 140,000 jobs and brings in 30 billion Rand (about 1.7 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue to South Africa each year. Enditem
