South Africa’s citrus exports have so far this season failed to meet forecast volumes after drought in some regions of the country impacted production. Citrus Growers’ Association CEO Justin Chadwick said the industry had also been negatively affected this season by the industrial action at the Port of Ngqura, which had led to some exports being diverted to the congested ports of Durban and Cape Town, costing producers financially. Chadwick said the regional export estimate was 137m cartons for the season but figures had come in slightly lower and were now projected to be around 128.6 million cartons due to difficulties faced by the various citrus sectors. “Grapefruit was down from 17.1 million to 15.7 million cartons, mostly due to the size of the fruit and perhaps more responsible marketing, sending the fruit of the right specification which led to the volume coming down,” Chadwick said. “Conditions were also very dry at the end of last year and the Tzaneen Dam level was at 12% so there were heavy regulation restrictions,” he said. Exports of Valencia oranges were down to 48.2 million cartons as opposed to the projected 52.9 million, while 24 million tons of navel oranges were exported, slightly lower than the forecast 26.9 million cartons. “We are really into the Valencia season and we will ship until the end of September/early October,” Chadwick said. Exporters had also been impacted by the go-slow at Ngqura Port, he added, which had led to delays for Eastern Cape exports which had to be diverted to Durban and Cape Town. “That put additional pressure on those ports and the three ports have not recovered yet. There is still a lot of absenteeism in the ports so it is a concern.” Chadwick said the historic breakbulk shipment of mainly grapefruit from Durban port to China and Japan in May had been well received with no quality issues. He said the industry had experienced three citrus black spot interceptions in Europe – all in Italy – this season which had been diverted to markets that were not sensitive to the fungal disease.
CAPTION
There is still a lot of absenteeism in the ports so it is a concern. – Justin Chadwick
INSERT
