A recent article, “SA’s Citrus Goes Global“ in the Financial Mail, sheds valuable light on the citrus industry. South Africa became the world’s largest citrus exporter in 2025, and citrus earns much-needed foreign exchange revenue while employing well over 140,000 people on farms alone. It is a remarkable achievement and growers, packhouses and rural towns from Citrusdal to Letsitele have earned every bit of it. The article’s own call for “a reality check” — to be aware of the severe challenges ahead — is much appreciated.
The 2026 season, now concluding, has unfortunately been a “reality check” of note for the industry. It has been far from just a continuation of 2025’s success and instead has been genuinely difficult.
The Citrus Growers’ Association cut its export estimate a number of times, from an original 209.4-million 15kg cartons down to 198.2-million. That is below the final 2025 figure of 204-million cartons.
In a normal season we contend with two or three risk factors arising. This year, nearly all of them arrived together in a perfect storm for all involved in the industry.
The war in the Middle East closed off routes to significant markets, while causing an oversupply to others. In a normal year the Middle East is our second largest market, accounting for about 20% of our exports. Shipping and input costs rose sharply at the same time as buying power weakened in several key markets. Severe rainfall hit Limpopo and Mpumalanga early in the season, while flooding in the Western and Eastern Cape destroyed some orchards. Port congestion added further delays on top of that.
Even our European supply window narrowed somewhat, squeezed by a very large Egyptian orange crop and an unusually early local European harvest. Bear in mind that the loss in income, with an exchange rate of R19/$ at the beginning of 2025 and the current R16/$, amounts to about a R4bn reduction.
None of this cancels out the industry’s sound fundamentals, which serve as a strong foundation. Our world-class fruit still reaches northern hemisphere consumers in their summer. That counter-seasonal position is real and it endures. But fundamentals do not pay a grower’s overdraft in a single season, especially in a season like this one.
Weather is beyond our control, as is the war in the Middle East. But the main factors of influence we can control are market access and logistics. Urgent action on those two fronts is needed if the citrus success story is to continue.
Attention must be paid to expanding market access to the Brics countries, the US, the EU and countries like Japan and the Philippines.
The potential trade gains that the Brics grouping offer are immense. Though we’ve seen tariff-free citrus access to China this year, as well as a more efficient phytosanitary treatment protocol for India, this has not translated into gains for our growers. Much more can be done to secure better access to Brics markets. The industry is keen to work with the department of trade, industry & competition to make this a reality.
Fair playing field
Currently, our mandarins face a 12.5% tariff imposed by the US. Even though most of our competitors face a similar tariff, preferential access could help a lot, especially considering the popularity of South African mandarins in the US.
The trade negotiations with the US are fraught, but seasonal fresh produce has a unique place: it supports the counter-seasonal growers in the US, it assists in keeping food inflation down, it helps keep America healthy and it supports tens of thousands of US jobs in retail and logistics.
The EU’s unscientific and trade-restrictive plant health protocols regarding the false codling moth and citrus black spot have been challenged by South Africa at the World Trade Organisation. While the progress is welcome, our growers still have to spend no less than R4bn a year on these completely unnecessary measures. An effective settlement on this front will go far. All we are asking for is a fair playing field.
On the logistics front, port congestion and an underused rail network compound every other pressure our growers face. Private-sector participation at our ports and on our rail network can, in the coming seasons, be the difference between a good crop reaching the market and a good crop not showing returns.
Every carton that leaves Durban, Cape Town or Gqeberha on a ship still carries the potential to create jobs, to contribute to rural development and to bring in much-needed foreign income. The industry has earned its global standing through resilience, not luck, and it will keep earning it. But resilience is not a substitute for action. Government and industry must move together on market access and on logistics, and must move with urgency.
South African citrus went global, yes. Whether it stays on that trajectory, however, is a choice the country still has to make.
Dr Boitshoko Ntshabele is the CEO of the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa
