“There is a variety of reasons behind the lesser volume than originally anticipated,” says an industry source who asked not to be identified. “We began at 165 million but now we’re sitting at 156 million containers with the decrease of fruits is the result from quality concerns and production. It’s more of an supply side issue than phytosanitary concerns.”

In the year 2000, a total of 164.8 million citrus cartons were exported from South Africa.

The last consignments of goods to arrive in China prior to the Mid-Autumn Festival are being prepared.

The deadline to pay duty on South African fruit in Europe could affect the trading flow also: exporters who focus in the East have informed FreshPlaza that it’s been harder than usual to source fruits in more of a Eurocentric season.

Three million less cartons of grapefruit are exported this season. The reason is the price of juice being fixed, which gives farmers in northern Africa another possibility to export; however, processing grade as well as marginal numbers of grapefruit weren’t exportable, but demand for the product seems to be slowing down in the traditional South African market for grapefruit.

The port of Durban the calmness of the seasonal reefer has been observed starting this week. Durban’s port anticipates a drop in the volume of citrus (mostly Valencias and mandarins) produced in areas of production to the north.

Mandarin production will reach around 3 million more than the exports of last year (33.8 million expected cartons) Lemon volumes have increased, going increasing from 34.7 millions in 2022, to 35.4 million in 2022.