South African citrus growers see a decline in exports but are hopeful of 2023

The South African Citrus Growers Association says it exported lower than predicted volumes to global markets in 2022.

CGA says despite packaging 3.2 million more cartons of fruit for export markets this year, the industry packed and exported 5.7 million cartons less (164.8 million cartons) than what was predicted at the beginning of the 2022 season.

“These figures highlight the extremely tough season growers have had to endure that has negatively impacted their returns and the volumes they were able to export and threatens the future sustainability of the industry, which sustains over 140 000 jobs and brings in R30 billion in revenue to South Africa each year,” notes Justin Chadwick, CGA’s CEO per MoneyWeb.

According to Chadwick, the final figures were “far lower” than anticipated and that can be seen in mandarins.

“This can be seen when it comes to mandarins, where 31.8 million cartons were packed for export to key markets this season, which is an increase of 900 000 cartons from 2021 but is 2.7 million less than the season forecast,” he adds.

“The only other category that saw positive growth was navels with 27.8 million cartons packed for export in 2022, which was an increase of 600 000 cartons when compared to last year. However, it was 900 000 cartons less than the 28.7 million cartons forecasted at the start of the season.”

Chadwick also pointed out various challenges which led to the decrease in exports in comparison to 2021.

However, he also noted a number of positives, saying the volume growth in lemons continued unabated with 34.7 million cartons packed for export in 2022, an increase of 3.6 million cartons from 2021, and 2.4 million cartons more than the prediction.

“The significant price hikes, that have seen freight costs increase by over 150% over the past two years, have had a devastating impact on growers’ profit margins, putting many of these local businesses at risk,” he continued.

“These challenges were coupled with ongoing decay of public infrastructures such as roads, rail and port operations, erratic electricity supply, and a decline in real export prices.

“This means that already tight margins for citrus producers were squeezed to the point where only one in five farms is likely to make a positive return this season.”

With documented issues surrounding Transnet and its ports, CGA remains committed to working with the rail authority and other stakeholders during the upcoming 2023 season.

“While is it clear that the challenges faced this season have squeezed growers’ profit margins and continue to threaten the future profitability and sustainability of the industry, the CGA hopes to work with government and other value chain partners to ensure the sector not only survives other short-term [issues] but remains the number one South African agricultural exporter and top agricultural employer in years to come.”