SOUTH AFRICA – One of South Africa’s first citrus fruit shipments of the 2024 season is expected to arrive at the Port of Philadelphia in the USA this first week of June.
The consignment of approximately 120 reefer containers, mostly containing clementines from Cape Town, will arrive on the box ship MSC Houston.
According to the marketer and shipper, Summer Citrus, further shipments of navel oranges and star ruby grapefruit will follow in weekly shipments until the end of October.
Summer Citrus CEO Suhanra Conradie said the group’s current shipping plan was to export 50% of the citrus via breakbulk and the balance as containerised cargo.
“We are serving one of the world’s most demanding markets, and adapting to the current state of the supply chain on any given day is a key factor of our business model. We have gained much momentum with our collaborative approach and intend to keep it going in 2024,” Conradie said.
“It’s all about matching up the available supply with the demand of the market. It’s not one exporter shipping here. We are trying to put everybody together and make sure that our infrastructure and our supply chain caters for the supply and that we can really move food as fast as possible,” she added.
The group has been planning its export strategy for the season since February. It has been shipping citrus into the USA market for local growers for 25 years.
Clarifying citrus disease situation in South Africa
Meanwhile, according to Citrus Growers Association of South Africa (CGA), there has been confusion surrounding reports of HLB (Huanglongbing or Asian Citrus Greening) in South Africa.
As outloined in their LinkedIn post, African Citrus Greening and HLB are distinct citrus diseases; HLB has caused devastation in regions like Florida (USA) and parts of Brazil. African Citrus Greening, on the other hand, caused by a different species of bacteria, is less damaging than HLB.
“Some media channels inaccurately reported HLB detection near Gqeberha prompting CGA to clarify that African Citrus Greening, not HLB, was identified,” read the post.
According to the association, HLB does not occur in South Africa whereas African Citrus Greening has been reported in South Africa since 1932.
South Africa maintains control by preventing movement of propagation material from Greening areas to Greening-free zones.
“Unlike HLB, African Citrus Greening cannot spread via fruit or seed. The Eastern Cape province was Greening-free until a recent discovery in Gqeberha,” clarified the post.
Delimitation surveys and control measures are now in place to prevent further spread to commercial citrus production areas.
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