State-owned Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) says it has moved 128 374 forty-foot equivalent units across its container terminals in Durban, Ngqura, Gqeberha and Cape Town and has handled 3.7% more citrus exports this year than in 2021.
The country’s peak citrus season began in April and ended in September – with a total of seven terminals exporting citrus fruit from Limpopo, Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Western Cape and North West to over 100 countries, mainly within the European Union (EU), the Far East and the US.
Volumes handled in the Eastern Cape terminals were particularly higher this year, TPT says.
“South African farmers have done exceptionally well considering the disruption we experienced in citrus exports mid-season because of the false codling moth, which is native to South Africa but considered a quarantine pest in the EU,” adds TPT commercial and planning GM Michelle van Buren Schele.
Further, while volumes were higher this year compared with last year, there had been the potential to do better during the season, she notes.
South Africa ranks sixteenth in world fruit production, accounting for more than 50% of the country’s overall agricultural exports, according to Fruits SA.
Citrus fruit makes up 55% of all fruit produced nationally with oranges the biggest citrus type. This is a total contribution of about R43-billion a year to the country’s gross domestic product. In the world, South Africa is the second largest exporter of citrus fruit.