Philadelphia, Pa. — The 2013 South African Summer Citrus season has concluded after a strong season.
“It has been a very good season for our citrus,” said Suhanra Conradie, CEO of the Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum (W.C.C.P.F.), the consortium of about 230 South African growers approved to export citrus to the U.S. “In our 14th year, the volumes consistently have been +/- 40,000 tons each year. This season brought 39,462.98 tons to the U.S.”
Beginning in early July and arriving every 10 days on conventional or refrigerated ships to Philadelphia, or containers to Newark, New Jersey through mid-October, 2,920.50 tons of clementines or easy peelers, 28,715.40 tons of navels, 6,505.80 tons of Midknight oranges, 337 tons of grapefruit, and 983.85 tons of Cara-Cara was exported to the U.S.
“When our fruit arrived, domestic fruit was no longer available so the market was strong for our navel oranges,” she said. “While the U.S. market frequently prefers larger fruit, retail programs of bagged oranges are growing in popularity. The fruit is shipped in 15 kg cartons; it is repacked by U.S. service providers into three or five pound bags.”
Weather conditions are always a factor with fruit and 2013 was no different. “Midknight oranges are a wonderful product and had a later start this year. Followed by Californian fruit becoming available earlier, this shortened our normal marketing window and resulted in some overlap,” said Ms. Conradie.
“The first hallmark of our program is the growers’ disciplined compliance with U.S.D.A. protocols coupled with collaboration on shipping volumes,” said Ms. Conradie. “A real time information flow among growers, importers, and retailers enables us to read the market so that neither too much nor too little fruit reaches the marketplace.”
South Africa is the world’s second largest exporter of citrus next to Spain, with only three percent exported to the U.S. The South African citrus sold in the United States comes primarily from the region near Citrusdal about two hours northwest of Cape Town, the Northern Cape near Kimberly, and the northwest along the Orange River, near Upington. “We value the opportunity to export to the U.S. It is a very important one for South Africa’s strengthening economic position,” Ms. Conradie added.
The W.C.C.P.F. facilitates logistical, marketing and sales support coordination of products for its members. Its mission is to maintain and expand its role as the preferred supplier in the U.S. and throughout the world, and continue to be a reliable supplier of safe summer citrus for the U.S. and all global markets.
For more information, visit www.summercitrus.com or find South African Summer Citrus, including healthy recipes featuring South African citrus, at www.facebook.com/summercitrus.
Source: Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum