South Africa citrus exports enjoy record year

Total South Africa citrus exports will reach record levels in 2020 and exports to the U.S. also are setting new highs, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

The report said a spike in global demand for citrus during the COVID-19 pandemic  and limited logistic disruptions helped contribute to record exports for South Africa citrus.

“The U.S. is considered a premium market and South African citrus exports to the U.S. are expected to reach record levels of above 70,000 metric tons in 2020, up 10% from the previous record of 63,544 metric tons in 2018,” the report said.

Through August this year, the USDA said U.S. imports of South African citrus totaled $57.3 million, up 47% from $38.9 million from January to August 2019.

The USDA said total exports from South Africa are expected to grow by 17% to reach 2.5 million metric tons this year.

Growth curve

The USDA said South Africa production has followed significant investments and aggressive new plantings of mandarins, lemons, and new varieties of oranges.

“This growth is mainly driven by the attractive investment returns and profit margins from citrus, and grower’s response to a spike in global demand especially for soft citrus and lemons,” the report said. “The benefits of citrus in boosting immunity and as a source for Vitamin-C during the COVID-19 pandemic has also been instrumental in the global demand spike for citrus.”

South Africa exports its citrus between March and August. While COVID-19 caused some complications in movement of product, the report said disruptions were relatively minor.

“While there were initial challenges at some of the ports in Cape Town and Durban, such as congestion, shortage of containers, and closures of ports for limited periods due to COVID-19 cases, the citrus industry was able to work around these challenges,” the report said.
 

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